Sunbury council opens public hearing on Woodland Lake TIF to fund Four Winds Drive extension

Sunbury Mayor Mary St. John opened a public hearing May 21 to consider an ordinance creating a tax increment financing (TIF) incentive district to support the Woodland Lake mixed‑use development and to finance an extension of Four Winds Drive.

City Administrator Daryl Hennessy told council the Woodland Lake site, annexed to Sunbury on Oct. 16, 2024, received planned residential and commercial zoning on Jan. 8, 2025, and that the developer, Wilcox Communities, needs certain public infrastructure—primarily the Four Winds Drive extension—to proceed. Hennessy said the developer expects to work with the Delaware County Finance Authority to borrow funds to build the road and be reimbursed with future TIF revenues.

The ordinance under consideration would declare the specified infrastructure a public purpose and exempt improvements within the proposed incentive district from real‑property taxation, replacing those taxes with service payments in lieu of taxes for a 30‑year term at 100% of the exempted taxes, Hennessy said. He noted the ordinance references two incentive districts because the original parcel has been split and both owners are contributing real improvements that will generate the TIF revenues. The proposal would include both commercial improvements and residential structures (single‑story ranch homes and three‑story walk‑up apartments) that are taxed as residential property, a detail Hennessy said makes this incentive district different from previous commercial TIFs the city has approved.

Hennessy also told council that Sunbury received two written responses from public partners: a letter from the Delaware County commissioners objecting to an incentive district with a term longer than 10 years and directing the county administrator to negotiate a compensation agreement with Sunbury, and an email from the BST and G Fire District asking to be excluded from the exemption. Hennessy said state law currently provides protections for certain levy agencies but that the fire district is not one of the protected agencies under the statute; he said he would reach out to the fire district to explore a mutually acceptable arrangement.

No members of the public who had been sworn in addressed council on the ordinance at the hearing. After Hennessy’s presentation and the entry of exhibits into the record (public notice, TIF ordinance packet, proof of mailing, county commissioners’ letter, and the fire district email), Mayor St. John moved to close the public hearing; council closed the hearing with no further action taken that evening. The council packet included a separate first reading of an ordinance creating the Woodland Lake TIF (Ordinance 2025.19) listed as reading only.

Why it matters: the TIF would allow the developer to advance the Four Winds Drive connection between Sunray Parkway (future) and State Route 36, which city staff say will facilitate stalled commercial development north of the project. County officials and the local fire district have signaled concerns about the length of the TIF and the distribution of tax‑equivalent revenues; those concerns could affect any intergovernmental compensation agreement and the ultimate structure of reimbursements.

Next steps and context: council took no vote on the TIF ordinance at the hearing. Hennessy said staff would pursue negotiations with the county on a compensation agreement and reach out to the fire district to explore options for addressing its request to be excluded from the exemption. The ordinance and related exhibits remain in the council packet for future council action.