The Daily Standard
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CELINA - The Mercer County Commissioners on Tuesday morning approved the annexation of just over 50 acres in Gibson Township into Fort Recovery, paving the way for new housing in the village.
The 51.025-acre-parcel owned by Nathan and Jamie Fortkamp is located on the corner of Flaler and Fort Recovery-Minster roads.
Village administrator Aaron Rengers said the Fortkamps intend to develop the land into new housing.
"I think the original plat he has planned out right now is just seven houses," Rengers told The Daily Standard.
Rengers is not aware of any construction timeline at this point.
"We don't have the plat approved yet, the plat map or anything," he said. "We're kind of waiting for the annexation to go through."
The Village of Fort Recovery is in serious need of housing at the moment.
"There's no available lots in town right now," Rengers told the newspaper. "Every lot that was previously in the Indian Hill Estates has been sold and not built yet but they're all sold to owners who are planning to build. There's no empty lots in Fort Recovery, currently no houses for sale."
Now that the annexation has been approved by county commissioners, Rengers said he will work on getting legislation to village council that would authorization the creation of a Community Reinvestment Area in Fort Recovery.
"So as soon this annexation gets approved the CRA is the next thing on the list we'd like to start working on and getting that approved," Rengers said.
The Ohio Community Reinvestment Area program is an economic development tool administered by municipal and county government that provides real property tax exemptions for property owners who renovate existing or construct new buildings, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
CRAs are areas of land on which property owners can receive tax incentives for investing in real property improvements.
A CRA that would encompass the entire village has been in talks since August 2025, but was put on hold shortly thereafter pending the completion of several village annexations.
As the proposal was floated, property owners would receive a 100% tax abatement for new construction or remodeling of residential, commercial and industrial properties.
"The industrial and commercial we can only go to 75% (abatement) without going to the school board," Rengers said.
The abatements would last 15 years for a residential remodel, eight years for a commercial remodel, 10 years for the construction of a new residential property and eight years for the construction of a new commercial property.
