What are Community Benefit Agreements?
Vol. III, No. 335 - Exploring Another Tool in the Community Development Tool Box
Most of the time, when a developer comes to a smaller city, like Piqua or Troy, asking for a tax break, a rezoning, or a piece of public land, the conversation happens between the developer and city officials. Residents often find out later — at a council vote that seems to come out of nowhere, or at a ribbon cutting, maybe, or when the traffic gets worse. But there’s a tool that flips that dynamic, and it’s been sitting on the shelf in Ohio for years. It’s called a Community Benefit Agreement, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.
What Exactly is a Community Benefit Agreement?
A Community Benefit Agreement — CBA for short — is a legally binding contract between a developer and a coalition of community stakeholders. The developer commits to specific, enforceable benefits in exchange for community support, or at minimum, non-opposition to a project. Unlike a promise made at a public meeting or a goodwill gesture buried in a press release, a CBA is a contract. You can litigate to enforce it.
The benefits secured through a CBA can include local hiring minimums, living wage requirements, workforce training, environmental protections, funding for schools or community facilities, and infrastructure upgrades in the surrounding neighborhood. The specifics depend entirely on what the community negotiates — which is the whole point.
Is This Legal in Ohio?
Not only is it legal — Larger Ohio cities are already doing it, and doing it aggressively. And maybe it’s time smaller communities look at this tool in the toolbox.
Cleveland passed a formal Community Benefits Ordinance in 2023 that requires a CBA for any project receiving $250,000 or more in city financial assistance. Since that ordinance took effect, Cleveland has executed 33 CBAs covering more than $959 million in projected investment. Those are enforceable commitments — hiring benchmarks, wage floors, local contracting requirements — written into binding agreements and tracked with public reporting.
Columbus has an active CBA Advisory Committee and applies CBA review to any city construction project estimated over $5 million. The city has signed multiple CBAs, including a $25 million Linden Park Community Center project that guaranteed 30% of construction workers be Columbus residents.
Cincinnati has used CBAs for major development agreements as well. There is no Ohio statute that prohibits CBAs. They are contracts, and Ohio contract law fully supports them.
When Does a CBA Apply?
CBAs are most effective — and most appropriate — when a developer is asking the public for something. That could be a tax increment financing (TIF) district, a tax exemption, a rezoning, donated public land, or direct city financial assistance. When public resources are on the table, the public has standing to ask what it gets in return.
Common triggering scenarios include large commercial or industrial projects receiving tax incentives, renewable energy facilities and data centers, major infrastructure projects, and sports arenas or entertainment districts. That last category isn’t abstract — it’s the kind of project that often arrives with an NDA, a tight council vote timeline, and very few answers for the people who will live next to it for the next 30 years.
What Value Does It Actually Deliver?
The core value of a CBA is that it moves community priorities from the sideline to the contract. Without one, residents learn what they’re getting — or not getting — after the deal is signed and the ink is dry. With one, the commitments are embedded in the project from the beginning, with timelines, reporting requirements, and an enforcement mechanism.
Cleveland’s ordinance, for example, requires developers to report contracting and workforce data publicly. That kind of transparency doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because it was written into an agreement that had teeth.
The Question Smaller Communities Need to Ask
When a smaller city hands a developer a tax abatement or a TIF district, residents are essentially writing that developer a check. The question was never whether the community deserves something in return. The question is whether the community knows to ask — and whether it has a mechanism to make that ask stick.
Cleveland and Columbus answered that question. Miami County hasn’t — yet.
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