CENTER TWP — Township supervisors will have a public hearing next week on an ordinance to create a one-of-a-kind economic district around the site of the medical center for VA Butler Heathcare.

The hearing, which is to collect public comment on the proposed ordinance, will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Unionville Fire Company fire hall, 102 Mahood Road.

In a Feb. 12 letter sent to property owners who would be affected by the zoning change, the township says the meeting will be followed immediately by a vote on the proposed ordinance. But on Wednesday night, the supervisors said that might not occur.

“It’s going to depend upon the tone (of residents’ responses), really,” said Supervisor Ken Frenchak.

He said the supervisors could decide to delay any vote until the township’s regular April meeting.

The proposal would create a new economic district that would be around the new medical center being built on North Duffy Road and would be located predominantly along the northern and western side of Duffy Road in the township.

The 168,000-square-foot facility, which is valued at $8.4 million over the life of a 20-year lease on the building, is expected to be completed by July 2017, according to project developer Cambridge.

The land, which is zoned for “low density residential” use would not be rezoned, said township Treasurer Anthony Amendolea.

But approving the district would expand acceptable land uses to include office buildings and institutional headquarters, data processing facilities, school facilities, government offices, sports complexes and health and hospice care facilities.

Other uses — which would need to meet certain conditions — are day cares and research and development facilities.

These conditional use facilities would have to get the supervisors’ approval before being built, Amendolea said.

The zoning district would be unique because it would exclude retail uses such as gas stations and strip malls.

“Office park-type stuff is what we’re really looking for,” said township solicitor Michael Gallagher of the kind of zone the ordinance seeks to create.

This new district would be in a proposed TIF — Tax Increment Financing District — that township officials have been working to create

However, Gallagher said the district is not dependent upon the TIF, although he acknowledged the two proposals are related.

The TIF district would take real estate tax revenues that would normally go to three taxing bodies — the township, the Butler School District and Butler County — and use the money to pay for infrastructure improvements, including sewage and electricity utility work in the area.

On Wednesday, township engineer Ron Olsen said officials still are working to fine-tune cost estimates with proposed state Department of Transportation road projects and other infrastructure work — like water and sewer service — in that area.

It’s still unclear how much money would be raised by TIF bonds from such a district, or how long the lifetime of those bonds would be.

Olsen said Wednesday he didn’t believe there was much enthusiasm among the three taxing bodies for a 20-year bond, which is the maximum amount of time for a TIF. He said the township’s goal is to facilitate development with as little public investment as possible.

“Our goal is to get what the township wants, but to put in as little local public money as necessary,” Olsen said.

One way to do that might be to create what Gallagher called an “official map,” which is a document that lays out infrastructure development like roads and rights-of-way in the township. The document, if created, would allow the township to push off the responsibility of developing facilities like a road to companies as their projects are developed, Gallagher said.

The supervisors said they plan to meet about the idea later this month with members of the planning commission.

Amendolea said the township has not received any development proposals for properties in the economic overlay area.