Dick Messner
  Economic Development Coordinator

Brimfield/Tallmadge JEDD | Brimfield/Kent JEDD

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Brimfield Profile 02.2007.doc | Brimfield Profile 02.2007.pdf 
Portage Population.pdf  |  2003 Wage Survey Summary.pdf

The article below is provided courtesy of  Debb Guziak Record-Courier staff writer.

Business booms in Brimfield
Residential growth slows in township
By Deborah Guziak
Record-Courier staff writer

BRIMFIELD - Residential housing construction has come almost to a standstill, but new businesses - and an industrial park - are coming.

The new industrial park is called Green Briar, and is located between Tallmadge Road and Interstate 76, just west of Karg Industrial Park, said Dick Messner, the township's zoning and planning department head. "It's 65 acres for light industry," Messner said of the industrial park, which currently is being developed. There already may be a business seeking to relocate from its current Brimfield location to the new park due to the business being land-locked at its current site.
The park, which worked with many governmental agencies to ensure the land was being used without impacting the environment, is advertising for light industry manufacturing. The developer is R & E Developers of Rootstown.

The hotspot in the township currently is The Cascades where a 119,000-square-foot Lowes opened its doors earlier this month. The Cascades also is home to a Wal-Mart Super Center, Strickland's Ice Cream, Arabica, Best Cuts, Auto Spa, Game Stop, best cuts, ATT Cellular and Quiznos, among others. The Cascades is being developed by 3-D Real Estate Partners Inc.
Joining The Cascades will be a Dollar Tree, which has submitted its blueprints to the planning and zoning department, said department head Dick Messner.

"The ground is stabilized and they should be pouring the foundation at any time," Messner said.
The general merchandise store is Phase One of a smaller, four-phase project for The Cascades. Another small business - Beef O'Brady's, a family sports restaurant - also is planned. The small development project also includes a few more small retail/restaurant businesses that haven't been named yet.

What makes this area "the place for developers to be?"
"The difference that sets this off is that it is 113 acres, 90 of it commercial," Messner said. "Also, the marketing area is elliptical, not circular. It's football shaped, which attracts people from a broader area. Lowes and Wal-Mart are pulling people from as far away as Mahoning County. Anything close to (Interstate) 76 pulls them in." Also attractive at The Cascades is its 80-foot landscaped entrance, patios and a one-acre park. Also part of The Cascades project is a 116-unit apartment complex that will have a clubhouse and a pool. The complex is shielded from the highways and shopping areas by buffer systems. "You won't even know it's back there," Messner said. "Those are going to fill up quickly."

While the apartments and condos of the area may be a hot commodity, single-family residential construction has dropped considerably, Messner said. "But we still probably have more permits than other townships combined," he said. Messner won't have final figures for new housing permits until December. Messner said the slow down in new housing construction most likely was caused by rising interest rates and the availability of money people have. "With the loss of jobs, there are 500 lost recently in Ravenna and Rootstown aluminum jobs, people will be hurting and putting their homes up for sale," he said. "It's a lack of good economic base. It's the state's fault for not making the state attractive enough."
The next exit down from The Cascades along I-76 is The Schipper Group property on S.R. 43. There are 42 developable acres at the site, and the group currently is putting in place the infrastructure for Phase 1. Included in the infrastructure is upgrading the storm water system that will divert 85 percent of an existing route of storm water from Restland Cemetery and Green Hills Golf Course area and eventually spilling into Plum Creek, Messner said. The company had to get approval from Portage County Soil and Water, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to do this.

"The storm water came from the exit ramps, Speedway and McDonald's," Messner said. "Besides flooding, the extra water was going into the wetlands."

The article below is provided courtesy of  Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer.

Brimfield faces task of keeping charm amid fast growth
As buildings rise from farmland, township navigates tricky issues of planning, revenue, new services

By Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Sunday, Sep 09, 2007
BRIMFIELD TWP: It's late afternoon on Thursday, half an hour before BrimFest opens. The rides are in place but still. Vendors are holed up in their trailers, preparing waffle batter and corn dogs.

But it won't be quiet for long.
The activity that will soon consume this peaceful park next to town hall is . . . inevitable.
It's a moment in time that mirrors the community itself.
Read the article provided below in pdf format.

Brimfield article part one
Brimfield article part two

Town Center Business and Retail Area
Brimfield Center State Route 43 and Tallmadge Road (CH 18) ¼ mile to I-76

Provided by:
Kelso Development-1v2.pdf
Mike Serafin, Vice President
HFP/Ambuske Architects, Inc.
Dick Messner
Michael Casamento -  330-673-9988

Rico’s Restaurant is now open in Brimfield on Tallmadge Road at State Route 43 in Brimfield’s Town Center District. Under Construction: Altercare, Auto Spa.

Contact Brimfield Township
Dick Messner 330-678-0739

State Route 43 New Expansion 5 lane widening

Contact Brimfield Township
Dick Messner 330-678-0739

New 15,000 Square Foot Plaza S R 43 Corridor Now Leasing

Central water and sewer and all utilities available at above sites.

Other

Contact Brimfield Township
Dick Messner 330-678-0739

Brimfield/Tallmadge JEDD | Brimfield/Kent JEDD 

Contact Information
 DEVELOPMENT/ZONING INSPECTOR
1333 Tallmadge Rd - Kent, Ohio 44240
Name: Dick Messner
Phone: (330) 678-0739 - Fax: 330-678-6626
E-mail: brimfieldzoning@neo.rr.com

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Last modified: April 25, 2008
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