A British developing firm is planning to build a $1.5 billion country club-type facility on roughly 900 acres of land in Lorain County.

Last December, Trans European Securities International made an arrangement with Lorain County and the Firelands School District for a 30 year, $1.8 million per year Tax Increment Financing agreement that will fund some of the project’s infrastructure.

The TIF was passed during a special meeting of the Lorain County commissioners on Dec. 30, 2005. In order for the county to receive the full financial benefit of the TIF, it had to be passed before the beginning of 2006, when state tax laws changed.

The development, which spans parts of South Amherst and the townships of Amherst and Brownhelm, will primarily be a high-level golfing facility, but may include hotels, housing, shopping malls and even a marina.

City Council Member David Ashenhurst emphasized the huge scope of the project.

“There are high-rises, hotels, 18-story buildings,” he said. “In Lorain County, five stories is a high-rise, but these are 18.”

According to Ashenhurst, some people are making even wilder predictions.

“There were rumors that there was going to be a dome over the whole thing, that it was literally going to be a city in a bubble,” he said. “They’ve talked ‘water park,’ they’ve talked several golf courses. But this is a quarry, it looks like Pebble Beach. There’s a whole lot of crazy talk.”

Whether or not the development will be covered with a dome, it will certainly bring an influx of jobs, people and taxable income to the area.

Neil Pike, an architect for Trans European Securities, told the Lorain Morning Journal in February that the development will bring 12,000 residents to the area and will be “almost like a small city.”

“This project, the construction jobs, would mean income tax revenues from everyone with an income tax,” said Ashenhurst. “One hopes there will be local jobs. Get your stonecutting done locally, get your landscaping done locally.”

There are also the added benefits of the infrastructure for the area that will be built by the TIF that the county agreed to even though the developer offered to finance the whole project.

Ashenhurst recently attended a meeting of county and municipal officials where part of the agenda focused on issues related to the TIF.

“One of the township trustees complained that if they would fund the whole project, why is there a TIF?” said Ashenhurst. “The answer was great. The developer would pay for what the developer wants. The infrastructure improvements that are being paid for are not what the county needs, it’s what they will get for allowing this development.”