Tax abatement is a symptom of the problems
Northeast Ohio faces as a weak market economy. It allows developers to decide where and how development occurs, and it pits city against city, region against region instead of capitalizing the value of our land on a regional scale.

To wean ourselves from tax abatements, we need a regional land-use plan that: 

• prioritizes existing infrastructure
• locates affordable housing in job growth markets
• conserves valuable open space and farmland for generations to come

A land-use plan tied to a regional tax sharing initiative could ease the competition between cities by targeting our collective resources, and perhaps state incentives, to build new communities where infrastructure already exists and to reward others at the metropolitan edge to conserve.

Current efforts such as the Ohio Lake Erie Commission's Balanced Growth Initiative prioritize areas on a regional, watershed scale. Ohio is building a framework for its regions to both develop and conserve land based on real world information.

Here's a place to talk about a new regional agenda for land use.