Highland County land bank board OKs additional projects for state grant programs

The Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) board added properties to their lists for both state grant programs during their Thursday, April 30 meeting, as they also heard updates on progress made for existing projects. 

Land bank administrator Jason Johansen announced that “all 19 projects that are awarded to contractors have been approved” by the state using Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program funding. That includes 13 projects using replacement funding from the previous grant cycle (2024-25), plus six parcels that were awarded April 20 as part of the new 2026 funding cycle. The 19 parcels include 13 in the Hillsboro area, three in Leesburg and one each in Mowrystown, New Vienna and Sardinia.

“Four projects have started this week, there's another starting later today and then another tomorrow,” Johansen said. “The four that have been started are 6539 Spring Hill Drive [at Rocky Fork Lake], 27 Maple Street in Mowrystown, 411 Trenton Street here in Hillsboro and 21 South Fairfield Street in Leesburg.”

For the Spring Hill Drive project, the board voted to approve a $589.88 change order because a concrete slab foundation, which a neighbor had originally wanted, now needs to be “removed from the site in order to satisfy ODOD [the Ohio Department of Development] so we can be reimbursed for that project.

“The neighbor who wanted the concrete technically wasn't the property owner,” Johansen said. “He's willing to pay 25 percent of that change order.”

Johansen also gave an update on the financials for the demolition grants. For the previous grant cycle, the land bank had $131,140.30 left over to use, with the 13 replacement projects and administration costs totaling $94,718.66, for a leftover balance of $36,421.64 in remaining grant funds. 

“If all goes according to plan, meaning we don't have to do any rebidding, I would say that we should utilize those funds as long as we can, as long as the state allows us to,” Johansen said. “Right now, the grant runs to the end of June. I received an email earlier this week from ODOD saying that all extension requests need to be in before May 8, so I recommend that we do file that extension. It does look like we're going to have leftover funds, and if we want to utilize those, we're going to need to push back that date.”

The board passed a motion to approve filing a grant extension from June 20 to Dec. 31.

“We could probably at least do another five or six demos with $36,000,” Johansen said.

The land bank was awarded $230,000 in April for the new grant cycle, with the six projects and administration costs totaling $37,161.30 for a remaining balance of $192,838.70.

For that grant, the board passed a motion to approve a list of 18 properties to submit for funding. The properties include 12 with Hillsboro addresses and one each in Bainbridge, Greenfield, Highland, Leesburg, Mowrystown and Sinking Spring.

“We're still going to be taking in projects, but we're just going to be putting them on a replacement list until we can either get more funding or that replacement funding becomes available to use,” Johansen said. 

After an update on the other state grant program, the board also voted to approve two additional projects in the village of Greenfield for funding through the Brownfield Remediation Grant program.

As approved, the land bank is seeking an environmental assessment grant for a former machine shop/filling station on East Jefferson Street and an environment assessment grant for the remainder of the former Elliott Hotel on South Washington Street.

The former machine shop site was covered under a previous Brownfield grant, as environmental consultant Matt Wagner said they did “assessment work” with grant funding and then “worked privately” with the owner to confirm “there was not a soil vapor issue.

“We still need to do additional delineation of that site on the armory across the street so that we can get proper delineation to then come back to allow for demolition at some future time for that project,” Wagner said. “The work still needs to be done in Greenfield on that site so that delineation can take place, meaning that we need to determine vertical and horizontal extent.”

Johansen discussed the former Elliott Hotel site, which consists of two parcels.

“The village does own one of those parcels,” Johansen said. “They're getting ownership of the other parcel.

“Demolition was their first thought, and then we were like, well, we have money available for the Brownfield program, and it can be part of that program as well.”

Board president Terry Britton asked if there was “an adjoining wall or anything that we’ve got to deal with” for the Elliott Hotel parcels.

“That's why the village is acquiring the property adjacent to the one that they own,” Johansen said. “There is a shared wall.”

Wagner added that he believed the state could approve funding for the other projects “as early as next Friday.”

As an update on the Rocky Fork Truck Stop, which was funded in the previous two Brownfield grant cycles, Wagner said they are still working toward a no further action letter from the EPA following months of well test sampling.

“We did do the second round of injections at the end of March,” Wagner said. “Pretty much all of what was on site has been knocked down below action levels, but we still had some additional hits to the eastern portion of the parcel into the neighboring property, so we did an additional round of injections in March. We need to let the bacteria eat the petroleum and take care of it and knock that down. 

“We anticipate resampling in June, and I'll hope to have an update with you on that, that it's clean and we can request a no further action letter.”

In other discussion:

• The board passed a motion to acquire 420 North Fourth Street in Greenfield from the forfeited land list.

“The property was foreclosed on by the prosecutor's office, went to two sheriff's sales, did not sell,” Johansen said. “It's a forfeited land to the state of Ohio. As a land bank, we have the ability to acquire property off that list.”

Johansen said that it will be submitted for state demolition funding, though the timing of that application depends on when the parcel is officially in the land bank’s name.

“We’re probably looking at a [$5,000] to $8,000 teardown,” Johansen said. 

• The board agreed to pay one-third of the costs to advertise the public sale of 222 McClain Avenue in conjunction with the Village of Greenfield’s advertisement for the public auction of that parcel, plus the village’s 216 McClain Avenue and 1065 Lafayette Street. 

As previously reported, after months of debating options for selling a property at 222 McClain Avenue in Greenfield owned by the land bank, the board agreed to try to sell the property at auction with a minimum reserve of $10,000. 

• The board voted to renew their contact with Dan Butcher to provide lawn care services at land bank-owned properties from May 1-Oct. 31.

The quoted rate was $60 per mow, which is a $10/mow increase over their previous contract “due to the increase in gas” prices, Johansen said. 

However, board member David Daniels asked for “a provision in there that if fuel goes back down below $3.50 a gallon, then the $10 [surcharge] goes off.” The board agreed to that provision, assuming the contractor also signs off on it.

• The board approved the financial report as presented by Johansen. The land bank had a March 2026 beginning balance of $330,686.55 and ending balance of $322,777.24, with $172,338.79 in reimbursements pending.

In a separate motion, the board also approved the payment of several unpaid bills, including for legal fees, salary and expenses, rent, office supplies and a contractor payment.

Johansen also told the board that the land bank credit card had two fraudulent charges, one for $990 and $920, and “the dispute is under review” by the bank.

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