LORAIN — City officials may be checking into whether properties labeled blighted in a study done by a Cleveland consulting firm deserve the designation.

The blight study is part of the process the city is undergoing to create an urban renewal plan for the area along Broadway from East Erie Avenue along the Black River to about 12th Street.

The plan, if approved by council, would allow the city to qualify the area for tax incremental financing (TIF) — something municipalities do to redirect property taxes to a certain area to improve infrastructure in the interest of development.

At least three business owners in the area have objected to their properties being labeled blighted. They include the owners of King Fishery, American Metal Chemical Corporation (AMCOR) and Sun Novelty Co.

AMCOR has hired an attorney, who has appealed in person to Council and recently sent a letter expressing the company’s objections.

“Being labeled blighted puts us at risk for the city to exercise power of eminent domain,” said AMCOR President Erin Fauber. “I don’t know how anyone could expect anyone to invest in our business under the threat of eminent domain.”

AMCOR, which manufactures refining agents used in nonferrous metals, has been in business at its 11-acre riverfront location for 24 years and has four full-time employees. Five of the nine parcels examined for the study were labeled blighted, including the parking area.

“We want out of the study,” Fauber said. “We want to operate like we have for the last 25 years employing people of Lorain and running our business. We’re relying on City Council to vote ‘no’ on the plan or vote in a way that excludes AMCOR’s property.”

Lorain Service Director Robert Gilchrist said the Community Development Department has tried to meet with AMCOR without success. He said the city relied on the study done by Gould Associates Inc., a Cleveland-based urban design and architecture firm.

“The city’s hired a consultant to undertake those tasks and we’ll rely on the consultant feedback to the city as it relates to the steps that should be taken,” Gilchrist said of the blight study.

When asked if AMCOR would file a lawsuit if the plan is approved as is, Fauber said AMCOR isn’t ruling anything out yet.

“We’re going to do what we need to do to protect our property rights,” she said. “The employees here are relying on me to protect their jobs and the business.”

There was one error in the study, when Sun Novelty Co. at 728 Broadway was labeled a vacant property.

Sun Novelty owner Marilyn Lopez told City Council June 20 that she’s been in business for 26 years and recently put a new roof and awnings on her building. She told Council she was insulted at being deemed blighted.

There are 16 categories that can lead to a property being declared blighted. If a property has two or more, it qualifies under the legal definition of blight, Gilchrist said.

King Fishery owner Ken King has been at his East Eighth Street riverfront location for more than 10 years. He paid $210,000 for his property, and said he’s since spent more than that fixing it up. He recently bought the Lorain Builders lumber supply building, but he said he hesitates to start fixing that property because of the blight label hanging over his head. That label, however, could be another mistake by Gould Associates.

The commercial fishing business qualified in two categories — one of which was no wheelchair access.

“Our business is not open to the public,” King said. “We’re a commercial fishery. … I just couldn’t believe it. I have a good business here. My buildings are in good condition.”

King is also worried the city is setting the stage for a riverfront land-grab. He said verbal assurances by city officials that they do not intend to take anyone’s property via eminent domain do not ease his mind.

“This is a family business,” King said. “It’s myself and my three sons. It’s all they’ve ever done. We need our dock. There’s nowhere else we can go to have our operation.”

King Fishery supplies yellow perch to restaurants along Lake Erie.

William Gould, owner of Gould Associates, said labeling Sun Novelty a vacant building was “a clerical error” and took full responsibility. He said the business, however, still has two marks against it.

A copy of the plan, however, shows changing the status of Sun Novelty from vacant to occupied would leave only one category in which the business failed — dilapidation and deterioration — not enough to qualify it as blighted.

Gould also admitted that if the public doesn’t come in and out of King Fishery, the lack of wheelchair access would also have to be changed in the study and King Fishery also would not have failed in two or more categories and its status as a blighted property would have to be changed.

Gould said his company has been doing blight studies for 30 years and business owners need to realize something positive can come from a blight study.

“Blight is a term that people right away assume the worst,” Gould said. “But it’s really a tool for cities to get these decayed areas cleaned up and then developed.”

In order to qualify as an urban renewal area, at least 70 percent of the parcels within the 45 acres along the Black River and Broadway had to be considered “blighted.” Two mistakes may not seem like a lot, but it’s enough for Gilchrist to start checking into things.

“Based on the information that I’ve received, I’ll be looking into the quality of the information being received (from Gould Associates),” Gilchrist said Friday. “We are relying on the expertise of this consultant. I owe it to the business committee to verify the accuracy of the information.”

Gould said Friday he would review the wheelchair access issue with King Fishery.

As for AMCOR’s objection, Gilchrist said he’s still interested in talking with Fauber and isn’t concerned the company has hired an attorney.

“It’s their legal right,” he said. “It doesn’t change the parameters of blight designation.”

If the blight determination for Sun Novelty, King Fishery and AMCOR were changed, the city wouldn’t have the percentage it needs within the area’s current boundaries to qualify as an urban renewal area and TIF financing. Gilchrist said he’s not concerned about that, either.

“Urban renewal areas are designated by boundaries,” he said. “They could be expanded.”

City Council will have the third reading of the plan at its 6 p.m. meeting next Monday.

Contact Alicia Castelli at 329-7144 or acastelli@chroniclet.com.

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