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Home builders urge county to limit developer agreement burdens as construction costs rise
Summary
A representative of the Medina County Home Builders Association told commissioners that a proposed developer's agreement and sanitary regulation changes are increasing housing costs, while the county's building department reported rising commercial work and steady new-home starts.
David Lahoten, executive officer of the Medina County Home Builders Association and CEO of All Construction Services, told the Medina County Board of Commissioners on June 17 that builders remain concerned about a proposed developer's agreement and recent sanitary regulations, saying the added regulatory burden increases costs for new homes.
Lahoten said his group provided a redline of the developer's agreement for county review and asked the board to adopt the least-intrusive approach possible to avoid raising lot and house prices. "We keep asking why we have the subdivision regulations in place, but we need a developer's agreement on top of that," he said. "These devices are in place. So we feel that it really is unnecessary." He added that he would continue to forward redline suggestions to county staff.
The concern came as Richard Nelson of the building department reported a May increase in commercial projects, which pushed overall construction value to within about 10% of the same time last year. Nelson said May new-home values averaged about $434,000 and year-to-date average construction value rose to roughly $425,000 from $422,000 the prior month. He also reported 46 new home starts in May 2025, the same count as May 2024 and May 2023, and said commercial work for May had an estimated value of $13,000,000.
Lahoten said regulatory costs are a significant portion of new-home expense and urged the county to consider ways to reduce local costs, noting builders sometimes choose nearby counties with fewer requirements. "I have a lot of people talking about moving to Lorain because it's much easier to go there to build," he said. He also urged consideration of broader financing ideas for affordability, saying, "I feel that . . . we need a 50 year mortgage," framing it as a proposal he has discussed with bankers.
Commissioners and staff discussed work already done on the developer's agreement and recent edits to the county's code. A county official said the financial-guarantee language was removed from the code because it was not being enforced and that staff intend to continue streamlining regulations while keeping necessary protections for public assets. "We don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater," the presenter said when describing the effort to unify and clarify rules over the coming months.
Nelson also briefed the board that the building department is short one electrical inspector and that residential plan-review times averaged four to five days while commercial reviews averaged about 21 days. He said the department will post the May report on the county website.
The discussion was part of the regular meeting; no formal action to change the developer's agreement or suspend the code was taken. Lahoten's remarks were made during the public-comment portion of the meeting; Nelson's remarks were part of the building department update earlier in the agenda.
Lahoten and the building department indicated they will continue to exchange redlines and clarifications with county staff as the board works on consolidating and updating regulations.
