Kettering City Council approves series of measures including land‑reuse ordinance, parks maintenance rebuild and research‑park option

Kettering City Council on April 22 approved a package of ordinances and resolutions covering land‑reuse procedures, parks infrastructure, a planned land sale in Miami Valley Research Park, and several budget and facilities contracts.

The council passed an ordinance adopting procedures under the Ohio Revised Code to facilitate reutilization of abandoned or nonproductive land, authorized contracting for a new storage and maintenance facility at the parks maintenance center with an estimated cost of $688,000, approved an option contract to sell about 24 acres in Miami Valley Research Park to a developer that plans up to 400,000 square feet of advanced manufacturing space, and adopted supplemental appropriations totaling $588,200.

Why it matters: the measures create a legal pathway for the city to move on tax‑delinquent or abandoned properties, restore a parks maintenance building destroyed by fire, advance a large private development proposal on city land, and adjust budgets to reflect those commitments.

Council adopted an ordinance described in the meeting as implementing “the procedures of Ohio revised code chapter 57 22 to facilitate reutilization of nonproductive land” and related Ohio Revised Code sections. The council discussion on that ordinance was brief; counsel noted the ordinance adds an expedited foreclosure process as an option in addition to the traditional treasurer’s tax sale. "Effectively, this particular ordinance will allow the city not to just initiate foreclosure actions under chapter 50, or 57 22 of the Ohio Revised Code ... but also through Chapter 323, which is commonly known as a board of revision or an…