City drew first plan

TIFFIN — On a Friday afternoon in December 2024, the mayor of Tiffin stopped by the city engineer's office and mentioned he was worried the city was running out of industrial land. By Monday morning the engineer had drawn an eleven-lot industrial park on a Tiffin businessman's farmland. Four days after that, the mayor emailed the plan to the businessman and told him to keep it in his back pocket. Seven months later, the city engineer would propose a plan to compel two neighboring property owners into an annexation of that land using two-decade-old sewer service agreements, before either of those owners knew the project existed. The land is about 143 acres at the intersection of US 224 and West State Route 18, owned by Lenny Clouse through his company Development Solutions LLC. Clouse also owns Clouse Construction. The annexation now proposed covers 148.941 acres, adding the home of Thomas and Anna Flechtner. The Flechtner family has lived on SR 18 for more than 40 years, and four small parcels at the corner owned by CLS Tiffin LLC, an affiliate of the Columbus development firm CASTO. The sequence in the records differs from what Mayor Lee Wilkinson told Tiffin City Council on July 20, when the Flechtners and two other residents came forward to say the annexation had advanced with little notice. Wilkinson said the city is nearing the end of its developable industrial and manufacturing property at the Eagle Rock and North Star industrial parks, and that Clouse approached the city about bringing his property in. Clouse, asked how the annexation came about, said the city raised it with him. "The City mentioned it to me shortly after we bought the property, 15 years ago," he wrote. "City always looking for next location, for it to expand, very progressive." The records were produced by the city in response to public records requests filed by The Advertiser-Tribune and by the Flechtners. The city denied two parts of the newspaper's request as insufficiently specific: everything in the engineering shared-drive folder titled "Private Projects\Clouse - Industrial Park," including every version of the concept plan, and everything in the folder holding versions of the proposed zoning map. Law Director Zach Fowler also did not produce the concept plan in its original drawing format. The concept plan City Engineer Matt Watson emailed the plan to Wilkinson at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, under the subject line "Industrial Park - Concept Plan." His email describes what prompted it. "Friday afternoon when you were in my office, you made mention of your concern pertaining to future land for industrial expansion and growth," Watson wrote. "During that conversation, I made mention of the land currently owned by Lenny Clouse near State Route 18 and US 224. To provide you with a depiction of the opportunity of this site, I have developed and attached a concept plan for the property." He described the method as one he had used before. "Just like when I previously drew up a concept for the West End Development, prior to the development even happening, I feel putting concepts on paper show opportunity and spark interest and excitement from developers," he wrote. "Developments like the West End Development and future Industrial Parks do not happen if a plan or vision is never developed." He wrote that the site might have more to offer than Eagle Rock, citing direct highway access, better soil conditions and the possibility of serving it entirely by gravity sewer. "I would be more than happy to further discuss with you, Nick and/or Lenny if you ever wish," he added, referring to City Administrator Nick Dutro and Clouse. Wilkinson replied at 11:51 a.m. "Thank you," he wrote. "This is awesome and an excellent opportunity for The City of Tiffin and for Lenny Clouse." The plan itself is a one-page document titled "Concept Plan, City of Tiffin Industrial Park," bearing the city engineering department's title block. It divides the Clouse property into 11 numbered lots ranging from eight to 25 acres, one of them a 21-acre detention basin, and shows two 80-foot road rights of way and proposed sanitary sewer extensions. Its legend includes four categories. Three are technical: existing sanitary sewer, proposed sanitary sewer, existing corporation limit. The fourth is labeled "Land With Enforceable Sewer Service Agreements," with the Flechtner and CLS Tiffin parcels shaded. At 1:31 p.m. that afternoon, Watson sent a revised version. "See attached updated concept," he wrote. "I cleaned the radius up a bit on this one and also extended road access out to SR 18. I wanted to clean this up a bit before presenting it to Lenny." Asked this month who requested the plan, Watson did not mention the Friday conversation. "I took it upon myself to develop a plan to conceptually depict the site's opportunities as an industrial park," he wrote in response to questions from The Advertiser-Tribune. Asked the same question, Wilkinson said he did not know. He said Watson showed him the plan early that week at a follow up to a department head meeting, and that "seeing this as a potential for future development that would support job creation and additional revenue for the City, I emailed the sketch to Lenny Clouse for his consideration." He said a similar sketch appeared on page 7 of a 2019 housing study prepared for the Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership by DiSalvo Development Advisors. That page shows an aerial photograph of the property with its three parcels outlined, under the heading "For-Sale Housing Sites," and describes the land as having "development potential for a mix of attached for-sale housing and single-family homes." It does not show lots, roads or sewer. December 2024 Wilkinson emailed the plan to Clouse at 4:07 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20. The attachment was titled "Updated Concept Plan Lenny Clouse Property." "I mentioned to you earlier this week that Matt Watson had sketched out a concept plan of your property," the mayor wrote. "I thought you might want to take a look at it. I know you have a lot on your plate right now, just keep it in your back pocket for future use. Merry Christmas." Clouse replied the next morning at 9:16. "Lee; Looks good lets get together after Jan 4th when everyone can. Thanks," he wrote. A minute later he sent a second message: "I also own the 25 acres to East residential?" Wilkinson answered on Christmas Eve. "That 25 acre parcel sits between residential properties on the East and South," he wrote. "It would be great for residential development or even light commercial." Asked this month whether he had been shown a concept plan prepared by the city engineering department, Clouse said he had. "I did see it, about 5 years ago, just a concept," he wrote. The email is dated Dec. 20, 2024. January 2025 On Jan. 8, Wilkinson emailed Clouse to set up a meeting. "I spoke to Matt Watson today and the best times to meet would be next week on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning or afternoon," the mayor wrote. Clouse chose Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. That Tuesday was Jan. 14. The concept was presented that morning at a recurring city staff meeting called project coordination, according to an email Watson sent two days later. That afternoon, Wilkinson and Watson met with Lenny Clouse and Brian Clouse. At 4:03 p.m. the same day, Watson emailed the concept plan to Seneca County Engineer Mark Zimmerman, copying Wilkinson. He asked whether Zimmerman would have any issues "in regard to connectivity" if the area were annexed, and "any other issues you might have if the site were to be developed." Zimmerman replied two days later: "After reviewing the proposed annexation, we would have no issues. Thanks for looping me in early!" On the afternoon of Jan. 16, Watson wrote to Fowler, copying Wilkinson, Dutro and Bryce Riggs, then interim president and chief executive of the Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership. "As mentioned at Tuesday's Project Coordination meeting, I created a concept for the land owned by Lenny Clouse," Watson wrote. "The Mayor presented the concept to Lenny, which ultimately increased his interest in developing the land." Watson wrote that as a result of the meeting, "Lenny's priority for the land is to get it annexed into the City of Tiffin." He then proposed what he described as the next step. "I think the next step in the annexation process would be to determine a plan and process for enforcing the annexation component of the Sewer Service Agreements for the properties highlighted in blue on the attachment," Watson wrote. He attached both agreements and worked through county auditor records to establish that each remained enforceable against the current owners. Fowler gave council a different account. In a July 30, 2026 email to all seven council members and Council President Bridget Boyle, he wrote that Clouse "started to approach the Collaborative and the City about a potential annexation" around February 2025, and that of the concept plan, "I don't believe it was ever shared with Mr. Clouse." He said the same thing to Anna Flechtner and to council on Aug. 4. "I know there is a concept plan," Fowler wrote. "That was purely an internal document for the City administration." Wilkinson said the law director did not know. "I did not share with the law director the fact that I had emailed this to Clouse," the mayor wrote. Watson said the same. "Per my email on January 16, 2025, I had been informed by the Mayor that he presented the concept plan that I had developed to Lenny Clouse," he wrote. "This resulted in a meeting between the Mayor, myself, Lenny Clouse and Brian Clouse." Asked about his statement to council, Fowler said the email was written from memory. "That statement was based on my memory as I was trying to get them information before I left for a vacation," he wrote. "I believe I noted at the bottom of that email that it may contain mistakes." At the Aug. 3 council meeting, Fowler said the concept plan "was shared," and described it as "just really just an engineer trying to, I think, help us within the administration just visualize what the area could look like." He told council the plan "is not the owner's plans. It was just to help us." Coming Monday: The 2006 sewer agreement that binds 364 properties outside the city, and the night the mayor came to the Flechtners' door.