BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      A plan prepared by a group that calls itself the Boardman Resident Mall Committee has outlined what it calls “actionable steps, incentives and strategies” to redevelop the Southern Park Mall in Boardman.
      The plan calls on public entities, like township government and the local school board to oversee some provisions of ‘the plan,’ although township government in most instances, lacks such authority.
      The current owner of most of the mall property, Kohan, based in Great Neck, New York, purchased the site, excluding the former Dillard’s Department Store, in late 2024 for a reported $24.1 million.
      Kohan is more than $900,000 delinquent in the payment of property taxes since buying the site from the Washington Prime Group; and the owner of the Dillard’s property, linked to the Eastwood Mall based Cafaro Corp., has quashed development of at least three businesses from operating at Southern Park.
      The Boardman Resident Mall Committee does not address issues associated with Dillard’s contractual provisions giving it the right to refuse certain capital improvements at Southern Park.
      According to the mall committee’s plan, taxpayer dollars would be needed to fund many capital improvements at the site; and one of its members is Cody McCormick, of 40 Leighton Ave., is related to members of the Cocca Development company.
      The ‘plan’ proposes what it calls a “financially viable strategy” to acquire the Southern Park Mall from Kohan for $21 million, more than $3 million less than Kohan paid for the property; and says “it assumes Kohan ‘clears’ $945,000 in back taxes” prior to selling the property.
      The ‘plan’ does not indicate if the so-called resident mall committee has ever spoken with the Kohan group.
      The Boardman News has learned that several township officials have spoken with Anthony Cocca, of Cocca Development, about the mall committee’s plan, that seeks Boardman Township’s Board of Trustees to pass resolutions that in effect, support the committee’s so-called plan, that one point calls Southern Park Mall the “Southern Park Village.”
      Some suggest if ‘the plan’ gains momentum, some of the mall property would be turned into apartments, or condominiums, and the mall site could become a mixed-use property.
      In addition to McCormick, who is employed as a manager with Amazon in North Jackson, members of the committee include a man named Jimmy Lewis, 38, of 77 Centervale Ave., who is a logistics manager for a firm that sells dinnerware.
      The ‘plan’ says that Lewis has met with “stakeholders to explore redevelopment opportunities and gather input.” However, the stakeholders are not identified in the mall committee’s plan.
      Other members of the committee, according to the plan, are identified as Donielle Fox, Paris Adrian, Sheila Milano, Suzanne Teresa, Erica Baun and Marissa Mook.
      The vision of ‘the plan’ is to “transform Southern Park Mall into a vibrant, mixed-use destination that drives economic growth, job creation and community revitalization.”
      Due to proposed tax abatements, ‘the plan’ suggests the Boardman Local School District will not receive additional property tax monies from redevelopment for at least 15 years.
      The ‘plan’ was submitted to Boardman Trustees in mid-August, by McCormick, who admonished one trustee not to share details of the ‘plan’ with anyone.
      After studying the plan, the Board of Trustees provided a response to the Boardman Resident Mall Committee on Fri., Aug. 22.
      The response was authored by Trustee Steve Yacovone and follows---
      Dear Boardman Resident Mall Committee:
      We, as the Elected Officials of Boardman Township, received your proposal and have conducted an in-depth review of the documents contained therein. As an attorney, I am in a special position to apply not only my experience as a Township Trustee but also my experience as a practicing attorney in the State of Ohio when analyzing the documents. We first want to make it clear that the entire Board appreciates the work and ideas that went into the document. However, there are several prima facie issues that were either not considered or blatantly ignored in the submitted documents. While we all want what is best for Boardman, and that includes the Southern Park Mall, the “resolutions” and “proposals” submitted by your group are non-binding and could potentially handcuff Boardman Township for years to come.
      The first, and most glaring concern, is the fact that essentially your committee wants the Elected Officials to sign our names to documents, in essence multiple contracts, that would be non-binding and non-enforceable. The basic elements required for an agreement to be a legally enforceable contract are: mutual assent (expressed by a
      valid offer and acceptance), adequate consideration, capacity, and legality. What you are proposing we sign lacks nearly every component of an enforceable contract. There is no mutual assent considering we have no offer (a buyer for the mall) and therefore cannot accept any specific terms. There is no adequate consideration (because there is no offer, we are not receiving anything in return for our terms). There is no capacity (again, no offer/buyer so only one party is agreeing to the terms). Therefore, for the reasons stated above, the contract would lack legality as well as you can see, your proposal lacks almost every necessary element for a valid contract. Although you propose a “resolution”, what you are asking us to sign is an invalid, non-enforceable contract.
      Further, even if we ignore the complete illegality of the documents you submitted, we would also be signing our names to terms with absolutely no negotiation. In the future, if a prospective buyer did want to purchase the mall, and we signed your “resolution,” we would have already agreed to terms without ever negotiating with that buyer. This would severely stifle our ability to negotiate terms, including future CRA’s
      and TIF’s. Signing the proposal would not only be non-binding, but it would be irresponsible on the part of the Trustees who are charged with the duty of making decisions to benefit Boardman. Signing these documents would be a clear breach of that duty. Considering the author of this document is currently running for Trustee, it is alarming that he would not recognize the damage this document could cause to Boardman Township if it was signed by the current administration.
      There are other issues which I have not discussed in detail including the claim about protecting school funding and not impacting the existing tax base with no detailed, independently verifiable financial analysis. The issues discussed above were just the most glaring instances of why this proposal cannot be signed by this administration.
      Again, we appreciate your efforts. However, until there is a legitimate (emphasis added) prospective buyer of the Southern Park Mall, we, as the Board of Trustees and Fiscal Officer, cannot, legally or responsibly, agree to any terms.
      Larry Moliterno, Trustee
      Steve Yacovone (Principal Author), Trustee
      Thomas P. Costello Boardman Trustee
      Brad Calhoun, Fiscal Officer