Highland County land bank board removes 3 Lynchburg parcels from state grant program; submits new Brownfield grant application

Members of the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) board approved updates to their state grant project lists, as three properties were removed and one grant application was added during their monthly meeting Thursday, Feb. 20.

For the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization projects, the list of 41 residential and commercial properties approved by the state with $500,000 in funding in November has been officially reduced to 38, following a vote by the board Thursday.

As previously reported, two North Main Street in Lynchburg were removed from the land bank’s list of 41 properties during their July meeting, prior to grants being awarded by the state. The reason for removing the properties is that they are part of the same building, with another office adjacent to them that would be affected.

Land bank coordinator Jason Johansen said in December that the land bank received approval from the state to proceed with work on the properties if they wish, as they have “$88,000, roughly, to still spend.” The board voted in January to have an assessment of the property completed to weigh their options before moving forward, as they were unsure whether an interior demolition could be done.

According to Johansen, he and environmental consultant Matt Wagner of TetraTech, as well as a demolition contractor with experience in these types of demolitions, assessed the properties and the shared wall. The demolition contractor “determined that demolition was possible” and quoted $108,010 for the project.

However, after meeting with the adjacent property owner, Johansen said that he and the land bank’s attorney Todd Book recommended abandoning the demolition idea “due to the risk of the project and liability with the active adjacent business.

“[The adjacent property owner] informed us that he was not interested in moving his business elsewhere and including his portion of the building in the demolition program, nor would he be interested in signing a release from liability waiver which would hold harmless the land bank and its contractors if damage on his portion of the building occurred,” Johansen said.

Also removed from the list of parcels was 213 Broadway Street, another Lynchburg property, due to unforeseen environmental issues with the property.

“We had some oil drums and tanks that were in there, and it was possibly a former car repair shop,” Johansen said. “It’s a potential brownfield, so due to that, we're going to have to remove it from our demolition program, and then we can look into future brownfield funding.

“The owner is aware of that issue, and he’s OK to wait and to see if, possibly in the future, we have some more brownfield funding that comes out and we can get that torn down.”

In January, board member Lauren Walker asked if costs for the “initial assessment” would be covered even if they ultimately decide against any type of demolition for a property. Johansen said the state has confirmed that predemolition “costs are reimbursable even if we do not go forward with the demolition.”

Of the 38 remaining properties, Johansen said that four— 2580 state Route 134 in Buford, as well as the previously announced 9 Market St., 421 Market St. and 11884 S.R. 771 in Leesburg — have been demolished. Rippstein’s Excavating was scheduled to begin demolition on 5700 Dawson Road in Lynchburg next.

For the Brownfield Remediation Program, Johansen said the land bank was able to submit an application during an extremely brief window for a new round of funding. The board voted to approve the application, although it was already filed the previous day.

“That Brownfield program was supposed to be open for like two months,” Book said. “It closed in two hours.”

“If we didn’t do that yesterday, we would never have been able to get it,” board president Terry Britton added.

In December, Wagner reported that he “anticipated a new round to open up somewhere in January, maybe early February, and [the state] should have roughly $50 [million] to $55 million still available” for the Brownfield program. Johansen told the board in January that they were not “quite ready” to pursue additional funding and were waiting to discuss it further in February.

However, in between those two meetings, the portal both opened and closed, Johansen said.

“The fiscal year 2025 second award Brownfield program was released yesterday [Feb. 19], and there's 50 million available for that,” he said. “I’ve been in communication with the Hillsboro CIC regarding the former Bell’s Foundry, or Emerson Electric, at 980 West Main Street here in Hillsboro.

“The portal opened at 10 o'clock yesterday, and I was able to submit our application at 10:43, and the portal closed by 12:45 as they reached their $125 million in applications, their cap. It was very, very competitive, and we were able to get that application submitted.”

Johansen said they applied for $123,675 in funding and had already completed their documentation to submit with the application, including “clean hands affidavit, letter of support, MOU [memorandum of understanding] and phase one and phase two reports.”

According to Johansen, a “remedial action plan,” or RAP, for the property was completed by the Mannik & Smith Group.

“The expenses with the phase one and phase two, along with the remedial action plan, came to about $23,723, and that would be a 14-percent match for the total projected cost of that project,” Johansen said. “That was funded by a grant through the Hillsboro CIC.

“Eleven percent of that would have to be made up in match funding, and that's roughly $17,775, and so the amount requested from ODOD [Ohio Department of Development] is $123,675. We granted that they take that 14-percent match of the work that's already been done, and then the remaining 11 percent would be put toward that, because with these projects, you need a 25-percent match to submit.”

The four current Brownfield projects — the East Monroe tank farm in Leesburg, a former gas station in Hillsboro, a former machine shop in Greenfield and the former Rocky Fork Truck Stop in Rainsboro — are all in various stages of progress, according to Johansen.

Johansen said they are awaiting a geographical survey from TetraTech on the East Monroe tank farm, as “there were indicators of a suspected underground storage tank.

“Once the final results are in, we'll have a geographical survey report provided to us from TetraTech, and then they will evaluate the next steps of that project,” Johansen said.

The land bank has also received a grant agreement for the Rocky Fork Truck Stop cleanup/remediation, according to Johansen’s report. It was the last project awarded by the state, having been announced in December, and was also covered by funding in the state’s first Brownfield program.

“It should be underway shortly,” he said. “We’ll resume work at the Rocky Fork Truck Stop.”

The former machine shop in Greenfield and former gas station in Hillsboro have both had “a utility locate” completed, with “drilling for soil samples scheduled” and “groundwater sampling to follow a few weeks after that,” according to Johansen.

Future plans for the Brownfield program are now up in the air, as Johansen said the program has not been included in talks for the state’s upcoming biennial budget.

“The Greater Ohio Policy Center, and land banks are still advocating for more brownfield funding,” Johansen said.

In other updates:

• Johansen reported that the land bank has received “quite a bit of interest” but no bids thus far for 6747/6749 Heather Moor Trail at Rocky Fork Lake. These are two adjoining parcels (considered one property to sell) that the HCLRC obtained via tax foreclosure and cleaned up.

“Those bids are due on March 19 by 4 p.m.,” Johansen said. “It’s a really good lot, buildable. It's got a grinder, water hookup. It's ready to go. We’re still looking for bids on that, but we still have a month, so we shall see.”

• Johansen announced that the “purchase agreement closing statement and deed” for 10635 North Shore Road are ready to submit to the county auditor after review by Book. The property was donated to the land bank and is in the Enchanted Hills subdivision in Paint Township.

“That'll be another property in our name,” Johansen said. “Quite a bit of brush there that's going to need cleared. A lot of mature trees, but quite a bit of brush.

“There is a trailer on the very back side of the property, and it's actually partially owned by the neighbor, the adjacent neighbor, that lives back there. I don't know if it was mistakenly put there, and they didn't know the property lines, so we're going to look into trying to get that off of there.”

• Book provided an update on his research into the land bank potentially purchasing tax lien certificates.

“I need to speak with the treasurer about adopting some necessary rules to be allowed to make the transfers, and then notices will have to be mailed out regarding the properties we're looking to try to become the owners of the tax certificate,” Book said. “Under the law, once we become the owners of the tax certificate, we are allowed to immediately start foreclosure actions on those tax liens. We don't have to wait a period of time.

“Hopefully by the next meeting, we'll be ready to pull the trigger.”

On an unrelated note, Book said that they used “the county’s credit card policy and modified that to make it apply to the land bank,” as the board previously approved a motion to that effect.

• The board approved the financial report for January 2025 as presented by Johansen. According to Johansen, the land bank had a beginning balance of $417,434.46 and ending balance of $404,612.94, with checks cleared during the month including rent, salary and expenses; legal/professional services; and office supplies.

Also approved, in a separate motion, was the list of outstanding bills, which totaled $30,874.88. That includes payments for Johansen’s salary and expenses; legal fees; rent; and a number of payments to contractors related to ongoing work on various properties.

(Editor's note: Thank you to Jason Johansen for his assistance with this article.)

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