Jan. 7—Dayton still wants to find a company to redevelop the Paul E. Knoop Jr. Prairie near the Dayton airport, but the city has agreed to pay for a water and environmental study meant to identify and try to reduce or avoid adverse impacts of a commercial project at the site.
Some people and groups that were opposed to redeveloping the prairie land say they want to know what an outside and impartial study finds about the potential harm of commercial redevelopment.
"I think it's a great step in the right direction," said Alexis Faust, executive director of Aullwood Audubon, which has pushed to preserve the prairie. "The answer to any of these things is to look at the science."
Dayton officials said the city has offered to sell 40 to 45 acres of the roughly 110 acres of prairie land to Five Rivers MetroParks to preserve it.
The cities of Dayton and Union recently approved a settlement agreement that ends a multi-year legal dispute over prairie land Dayton wants to sell for commercial redevelopment but that conservationists and others want preserved.
Dayton wanted to sell about 110 acres of the Knoop Prairie, located at West National Road and Frederick Pike, for a redevelopment project that city officials said would have created 600 to 700 new jobs and led to $250 million in new investment.
But the company backed out, and Dayton sued Union and its City Manager John Applegate, claiming they "cast a cloud" over the property title and wrongfully interfered with the deal.
The settlement agreement between the cities rescinds a legal affidavit Dayton took issue with and resolves the litigation and it states Union can construct maintain and control some roads and rights-of-way near the Dayton International Airport.
The agreement fosters regional cooperation, allowing both jurisdictions to add more commercial development around the aviation facility, said Mark Charles, Dayton's sustainability manager.
Also under the agreement, Dayton also says it will pay for a water and environmental study for the Knoop prairie property.
The study will assess the potential adverse impact redeveloping Knoop prairie would have on surface and ground water, as well as on the site and surrounding area, Charles said.
The goal is to identify potential issues in order to try to avoid or reduce them when the property is ultimately redeveloped, Charles said.
The city will soon solicit bids for the assessment, Charles said, and the city currently does not have potential developers lined up who are interested in the prairie land.