Springboro records show city plans to buy much of Easton Farm land

Few details about plans for the land have been released this week.

Springboro City Manager Chris Pozzuto, who has been directly involved in discussions, has been unavailable, city officials said. Mayor John Agenbroad declined to comment on the possible acquisition until council addresses the issue.

“The city has been approached by the representatives of the owners of the Easton Farm to purchase 60 acres of the property in between the existing homestead and the portion of the property that is proposed to be developed as commercial and multi-family,” a memo from Pozzuto states.

The city will pay $116,666.67 per acre, according to the memo.

”Nothing has happened yet … for the purchase, nothing has been decided. We’re kind of just working through that,” Springboro Assistant City Manager Greg Shackelford said. “But obviously it’s council’s decision on what they want to do.”

A city map of the land designates the homestead, the 60 acres Springboro is proposing to buy and areas for commercial mixed use, multi-family and townhouses.

Shackelford said those designations are likely for current allowable uses.

Council is set to consider a resolution Thursday that “authorizes the city manager to negotiate and execute a purchase agreement for said property and to take all necessary action and execute any and all documents reasonable and necessary to consummate the sale and close on the property if the purchase agreement is successfully negotiated.”

Springboro City Council rejected a development proposal and rezoning for the Easton Farm in 2021. But in October 2022, a court settlement was reached between the city of Springboro, Easton Farm Partners LLC and others, granting certain zoning status to the $265 million housing, retail and commercial development that had been proposed for the site along Ohio 741.

”And all of a sudden it went dormant. Nobody had any conversations at all,” Agenbroad said, noting that national economic issues such as inflation and interest rates may have been factors.

Plans to develop the same land had been brought forward by other developers in 2008 and 2017, but either were rejected by the city or dropped.