The ethanol industry will not survive the electric vehicle transition. As EVs displace internal combustion engines over the coming decades, liquid fuel demand will collapse and the ethanol market will collapse with it. Ohio currently devotes roughly 1.5 million acres of farmland to corn grown exclusively for ethanol: more than 2,000 square miles, four times the size of Franklin County. Even with aggressive agricultural diversification and expanded global market access, a substantial portion of that land will go out of productive use. And Ohio is not alone: nationally, 30 million acres are devoted to ethanol corn. Whatever replaces that crop, it will not absorb all of it.
What Do We Do With 2,000 Square Miles?
Some of this land will be rewilded and reforested, restoring ecological function to landscapes that have been under intensive cultivation for a century. Some will be converted to diversified agriculture, specialty crops, orchards, native prairie, agritourism. Some will be integrated into Ohio’s expanding infrastructure and energy networks.
And some of it we will build on. Because the most important thing Ohio can do with an abundance of cheap, flat, well-drained land in the middle of the most connected corridor in the Midwest is attract people, capital, and ambition to it.
We propose to build a new city.
Why Build a New City?
The real source of growth, innovation, and prosperity is people. People are the economy. Ohio needs more of them, the best educated, the most talented, the most entrepreneurial people in the world, drawn here by opportunity and kept here by quality of life.
A new city is a practical response to the dynamics of housing, migration, and economic geography. When demand for desirable urban living concentrates in a small number of places, housing costs rise and people are priced out. The best long-term solution to housing affordability in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati is not simply building more in those cities, it is creating more places that are genuinely desirable to live, spreading demand across a broader network, and reducing cost pressure throughout the system. Creating more nodes in the network and preventing bottlenecks.
A well-designed new city in Northwest Ohio would expand Ohio’s housing supply significantly, reduce long-term cost pressure in existing metros, create a new focal point for industry clusters, and send a clear signal that Ohio is building the future.
We propose locating this city in the agricultural plain between Toledo, Columbus, and Dayton: a geography that is flat, buildable, well-watered, and positioned at the center of a regional economy of roughly fifteen million people.
Luring Telosa to Ohio
Among the various proposals for new cities currently in development, one stands out for its alignment with the Ohio Vision: Telosa, proposed by entrepreneur Marc Lore, planned at full buildout for five million residents by 2050.
Telosa is built around a community land trust model, Land is held collectively, land value appreciation accrues to the community rather than to private speculators, and public services are funded by a land value tax on that appreciation. It needs a site: flat land, cheap land, land near water and existing infrastructure, land close enough to established population centers to draw residents and businesses without starting from nothing.
The triangle formed by US-30, I-75, and US-23 in Northwest Ohio is among the strongest candidate sites by every practical criterion. It is geologically stable, agriculturally leveled, served by existing highway and rail corridors, and within a few hours of Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. It will have land available at reduced agricultural prices.
Crucially, Ohio’s own commitment to replacing property taxes with a land value tax creates a legal and philosophical environment uniquely compatible with Telosa’s Georgist foundation.
Ohio’s offer to Telosa is straightforward: land assembled at agricultural value and transferred to the community trust, charter city recognition from the moment a founding population threshold is reached, zoning sovereignty within state baseline standards, full integration into Ohio’s broadband and energy grid planning, and a series of state infrastructure investments tied to Telosa’s growth milestones.
Those milestones, and Ohio’s corresponding commitments:
At founding: Charter city recognition, land assembly support, highway access, regional bus rapid transit connections from Columbus and Toledo, integration into state broadband and energy infrastructure.
At 50,000 residents: A state-funded community college within the city, integrated into Ohio’s tuition-free two-year post-secondary guarantee, every Telosa resident able to access free higher education without leaving their city.
At 250,000 residents: Establishment of a new Ohio public university within Telosa, a full institution with its own research mission and degree programs. Full high-speed rail service on the Columbus–Toledo corridor running through the city.
The Columbus–Toledo High-Speed Corridor
The 3-C+D corridor — Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati — is the spine of Ohio’s proposed high-speed rail network. A second major corridor becomes both economically justified with Telosa in the picture: a high-speed line running northwest from Columbus to Toledo, passing through Telosa and connecting Findlay to the network and continuing on to Detroit.
The Cornpocalypse will displace real communities and real livelihoods. We will not pretend otherwise, and we will provide real support: farm diversification assistance, rural economic development, and the same community investment directed at Ohio’s small cities. The transition will require effort and foresight.
Tim Grady For Ohio 