EDITOR’S NOTE: The Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce hosted officials from its communities on March 12 at La Vera Party Center in Willoughby Hills to discuss the “State of the Cities.” This is one in a series of articles detailing the speeches that were given.
Officials and developers are laying the groundwork for potential economic development in southern Kirtland.
Mayor Kevin Potter discussed Biltmore Healthcare’s proposal to build a nursing home at the route 6 and 306 intersection’s northwest corner at his recent State of the City address. That came after the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted at its March meeting to grant Biltmore a conditional use permit for the project.
“A 99-bed facility with about 100-plus jobs stands to bring the city of Kirtland nearly $200,000 in income tax revenue annually, obviously property taxes for our schools,” Potter told the group of western Lake County leaders and guests.
Officials have said that the extension of a sanitary sewer to that intersection will be necessary to advance the nursing home project. Potter highlighted multiple avenues that the city is pursuing to fund that two-mile extension.
“We’re working with all of our regional, state, local officials, federal officials to try to help us get some sewer funding, but we also have some plans for some other opportunities for TIF (tax increment) financing and things like that to make sewers a reality,” he said.
Potter said at the March commission meeting that he and city officials met with Kirtland School District representatives to discuss the potential TIF, which would divert a portion of the increased property tax value on certain properties for a set period to fund public infrastructure projects.
He added that he had also discussed ambulance runs with Kirtland Fire Chief Tony Hutton. The mayor said that the expected ambulance runs from the nursing home would “pose no additional stress” to the city’s fire station staffing and could generate around $40,000 a year from EMS billing. He added that after four or five years, that could pay for another ambulance.
Potter said earlier this year that the city would look to request bids on the sewer project early next year, start construction in 2026 and finish in 2027.
Biltmore representative T. David Mitchell previously told the city that the developer would not start construction on the nursing home before 2026. The city has also said that the developer will need to receive final development plan approval for the project.
“I want to thank Biltmore Healthcare for choosing Kirtland, and in advance thanking the whole Kirtland team for working to make that sewer extension a reality,” Potter said.
Community engagement
Potter also used his State of the City address to highlight the Mayor’s Action Network, which he started a few years ago with former assistant Teresa Szary to partner with local organizations.
He said that the city holds spring and fall clean-up days at the homes of local seniors and veterans.
“With the help of our local faith-based organizations, our schools, our Kiwanis, we end up with 150-plus coming out on a Saturday to take care of 20-plus homes,” Potter said. “It’s really, probably my favorite two dates of the year.”
He said that the city has also participated in a government day partnership with Kirtland Schools and planted trees with Holden Arboretum and the school district.
“It’s very important to me to engage in the community, especially a smaller community like Kirtland, we have 6,900 residents,” Potter said. “So getting to know so many of them and then working so closely with all of them is important to me, and I think we do a pretty good job with it.”
