Elyria committees approve transfer of parcel to Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority for Wilkes Villa RAD conversion

At a Jan. 27, 2025 joint Community Development and Finance meeting, Elyria committee members voted to recommend an emergency ordinance transferring a city-owned parcel in the Wilkes Villa development to the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority (LMHA). The transfer is intended to give LMHA site control needed for a Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion and to support an application for 4% low-income housing tax credits through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.

LMHA attorney Scott Aurelia and LMHA Chief Financial and Development Officer Colleen Detilio explained that the parcel was conveyed to the city in 1974 with a deed restriction requiring it be used as a playground. Aurelia said LMHA discovered the parcel remained under city ownership when a surveyor working on LMHA’s Wilkes Villa redevelopment application found the gap in site control. “We own all of the parcels there, except for one that was conveyed … to the city of Elyria in 1974,” Aurelia said. Detilio described the planned redevelopment as a complete rehabilitation of units and said the agency expects roughly $120,000 in hard-and-soft construction costs per unit and a total project cost in the neighborhood of $30,000,000.

The LMHA team told council members they need the parcel to meet federal funding site-control requirements and to allow HUD to place a declaration of trust on the property where required. Detilio said LMHA is applying for a 4% low-income housing tax credit from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency as part of the financing package and that site control is a checklist item for that application.

Law Director Deary said a brief review of county auditor maps showed the lot is one of a row of parcels surrounded by LMHA-owned property and that there was no visible evidence of an existing playground on the lot. Deary described the nearby Ebony Drive referenced in older records as a “paper street” — a street that exists on paper but was never constructed.

Council members asked about resident relocation, construction timing, and rents after conversion. Detilio said LMHA will follow HUD relocation requirements, has a relocation budget in the project pro forma, and will seek to minimize off-site moves, housing residents elsewhere in LMHA’s portfolio when necessary. “We are required to follow relocation, and we have a pretty sizable relocation budget built into the project,” she said. LMHA estimated construction at about 18 months based on recent bids. On rent, LMHA said rent will continue to be income-based (generally calculated at 30% of income) and that under RAD the property will move from HUD’s public housing platform to a multifamily platform that LMHA says provides additional federal funding for residents.

Council members and LMHA staff also discussed that the parcel’s survey history was unclear, that a portion of playground equipment visible in aerial images might be encroaching on the lot, and that LMHA previously had encountered parcels lacking the declaration of trust HUD requires to use certain federal funds. Detilio said the agency is coordinating with HUD to secure any required declarations of trust.

Community Development moved the committee report recommending an emergency ordinance authorizing transfer of the parcel to LMHA. The motion was moved by Mrs. Mitchell and seconded by Mr. Lipien; committee members voted in favor and the motion carried. Finance then moved and seconded the same recommendation; the finance committee also voted in favor and the motion carried. No recorded no votes or abstentions were announced in the committees’ voice votes.

Next steps: the committees directed legislation be drafted authorizing the transfer with an emergency clause requested to meet LMHA project timelines.