Highland County land bank board takes steps toward selling RFL parcels; hears updates on other properties

Much of the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) meeting Thursday, Jan. 16 focused on plans for properties currently in the land bank’s possession, as there was little progress in the past month on the cleanup of properties using state grant funds.

At the start of the meeting, the board reorganized for 2025, with Terry Britton reappointed chair, Randy Mustard reappointed vice chair and as Paint Township representative and Lauren Walker reappointed as City of Hillsboro representative. The board also includes Highland County Commissioner David Daniels and Highland County Treasurer Vickie Warnock.

During his update on HCLRC-owned properties, land bank coordinator Jason Johansen provided a breakdown of expenditures, as requested by Daniels in December, for 6747/6749 Heather Moor Trail. These are two adjoining parcels (considered one property to sell) that the HCLRC obtained via tax foreclosure and cleaned up.

With the cost of asbestos abatement, structure demolition, the tax foreclosure process, lawn maintenance, legal fees and HOA fees combined, Johansen estimated that the land bank incurred $15,156.99 in expenses for the property. Of that total, however, $12,196.42 was covered by a state grant. Johansen also pointed out that $32,888.57 in delinquent taxes were cleared through the land bank’s acquisition of the parcels.

Taking all of that into consideration — plus its appraised value of $19,000 — Johansen told the board, “We're trying to find a pricing point on that property.

“Around the corner on Heather Moor, there is a property being sold, just a vacant land, .23 acres — so that's half the size of ours — no water or Rocky Fork Lake sewer grinder, and they have that listed at $25,000,” Johansen said. “Ours does have a grinder. I spoke with Kristie in the auditor's office. It looks like a grinder installation, depending on where you put it on your property, it runs about $12 [thousand] to $17,000, and then to tap into county water is about a $4,200 expense.

“Just those two expenses alone can be anywhere from $15 [thousand] to $20,000, and then of course we have about $15,000 into it, and we cleared quite a bit of taxes.”

Daniels asked if “the assessments on the original sewer project been kept up on this property” and are “cleared,” and Johansen responded that they were.

Daniels suggested that vacant lots at Rocky Fork Lake are valued at approximately $8,800 each — times two, for both parcels — and that they should also consider the “$20,000 you got on top of that” in expenses.

“Fix a price point somewhere around $37-38,000,” Daniels said. “I don't think it'll sell for that, but at least that's a place to start. I mean, I've had conversations with people down there that people realize the value of having that sewer hookup already there and the water hookup already there.

“I would suggest somewhere around that neighborhood. We can always drop the price, and I would imagine that we would have to, but at least it doesn't look like we're giving it away and losing money.”

The HCLRC’s attorney, Todd Book, asked the board to then consider whether they wanted to list the parcels for sale or “set a date for sealed bids to force the issue,” with “a reserve in place saying that it has to sell for a certain dollar figure.”

“We could do that,” Daniels said. “At least that way we know if there's interest in the property and what that might be. We can reject any bids that we deem unacceptable.”

Daniels also added that they should “set a minimum bid” if they accept sealed bids.

Walker said she agreed, saying the sealed bid process has worked “a lot better” for the land bank in the past.

“We were able to get a higher value out of properties that way, and we set a minimum bid as well,” she said.

The board then had some additional discussion, including hearing input from residents in attendance, on what figure to use for a minimum bid. Book also asked the board to consider a “time frame” for the bidding process — with Johansen advising that setting a deadline to open the bids in March would be better than February, due to time constraints — and whether they wanted to try to sell “other properties at the same time.”

“We just don’t have anything else ready to list,” Johansen said.

Britton also asked if the board wanted to wait until February to make a decision, but Walker said, “I say we set the price now and do a bid date for March.”

Johansen said there is “definitely” interest in the parcels and asked if the $35,000 listing price proposed by Daniels was too high.

“We have $15,156.99, approximately, in the property,” Book said. “If we set the minimum bid for what we have in it, then let the market decide what happens.”

Johansen pointed out that Daniels’ estimate “was based off two” parcels, but Book responded “it's one lot in reality,” since that is how they are selling it.

“I don't really want to go any lower than, you know, probably 25 or 28 [thousand dollars], somewhere in there, just because it is a bigger lot,” Walker said. “If, truly, somebody is excited about it, they're going to pay what we have listed. If it doesn't work, then we can go back and reject bids and reevaluate it.”

Walker added that there is already “equity in the property itself” with the water and sewer “infrastructure” in place.

Daniels agreed with the higher minimum bid price, saying that even without considering the land bank’s expenses, the $32,888.57 in delinquent taxes cleared was significant.

“At some point, the taxpayers have got to get something back out of it,” Daniels said. He asked if they wanted to set the minimum price at $28,000, as also suggested by Walker.

“That was kind of the number that was sticking in my head,” Britton said, and Johansen said he “liked” that number as well.

At the suggestion of Book and Johansen, the board agreed to set a deadline for bids to be submitted by March 19 at 4 p.m. to the land bank office, with the aforementioned $28,000 minimum bid.

In an unrelated property update, Johansen gave a report on a recently acquired parcel on Bigelow Street in Hillsboro. At their November meeting, the board accepted the piece of forfeited land, valued at $300, which Johansen and Book said would qualify for their side lot program.

In December, the board agreed to allow an adjoining owner to have the parcel surveyed. As of Thursday, Johansen said they were not ready to sell the land, as the neighboring owner is “hoping to make all of this property” — including an “unused street” through his existing property — “connected and own it all.

“There is an unused street that runs through the property owner’s land,” Johansen said. “His property’s still connected to this parcel, so he's still an adjacent owner, but he had spoke with Lauren the other day about possibly obtaining that — it’s called a street vacation — for his own, and local governments can transfer the right of ways to a private property owner.

“We are kind of looking into that to try to save him, because if he is to go down that route, he would have to get a survey done. We're hoping that we can just have him get one survey done.”

Walker added that if the property owner decides to pursue the alley vacation, it will have to go before city council for three readings, then would become effective 30 days after passage by council.  

“Then he can hire the surveyor at that time, and then he would also survey this property to have it deeded at that time as well,” Walker said. “We’re trying to save on a cost for him for doing a survey twice.”

In other discussion:

• Johansen provided the latest details on the two state grant programs — the Brownfield Remediation Program and the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization — during his reports.

For the Brownfield Remediation Program, Johansen updated the progress on the land bank’s four projects, which are located at 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.

“The [East Monroe] site was full of trees and brush, and we had that cleared last week so we can do our geographical survey,” Johansen said. “They're just waiting on the weather to clear up, and the same goes for the former machine shop in Greenfield and the former gas station here on East Main Street in Hillsboro.

“They planned to actually get started today on those and do their geographical surveys, but due to the weather and the snow on the ground, that's not quite possible. They're going to try to take care of that at the end of January, possibly the beginning of February, just depending on the weather.”

For the Rocky Fork Truck Stop cleanup/remediation — which was the last project awarded by the state, having been announced in December — the land bank is still awaiting their grant agreement with the Department of Development,” Johansen said.

In December, environmental consultant Matt Wagner of TetraTech said 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 Thursday that the land bank is not “quite ready” to pursue additional funding.

“We don't quite have a brownfield,” Johansen said. “We have some ideas for some, but right now we don't really have one set in stone, so we're going to wait for our February 20 meeting. If they release those competitive applications, and they let us know they're going to release them before that date, we might just go ahead and call a special meeting and try to get in here and get a brownfield project, or maybe two, approved for that funding.

“Those are competitive applications, so we're not guaranteed any funding, but we can at least try and be there when the portal opens to submit it as fast as we can. TetraTech and Matt's going to work with us on that.”

Although Johansen said that “all contracts have been signed with the contractors” for the state Building Demolition and Site Revitalization program, no progress on demolition has been made since the land bank’s last meeting held Dec. 19.

As previously reported, the HCLRC submitted 41 properties for the state Building Demolition and Site Revitalization grant program. On Nov. 4, projects were approved for a total of $500,000.

In December, Johansen said Reed Mechanical Construction began work on 419 Market St., 421 Market St. and 11884 S.R. 771 in Leesburg, but no other locations have been tackled.

“We haven't had any more additional demolitions, with the holidays and the rough weather that we've had,” Johansen said. “It’s kind of been put on hold, but hopefully here soon, they're going to get started back up with those demolitions.”

For two parcels on North Main Street in Lynchburg, which were removed from the land bank’s list of 41 properties during their July meeting, Johansen said in December that the land bank received approval from the state to proceed if they wish, as they have “$88,000, roughly, to still spend.” The board voted to have an assessment of the property completed to weigh their options before moving forward, as they are unsure whether an interior demolition could be done.

As of Thursday, Johansen did not have any official answers but said he would have more to report in February.

“Matt Wagner wasn't able to make it today, but he is going to be helping me on that next Wednesday,” Johansen said. “We're meeting with the owner, and we plan to try to get into that wall, that shared wall, and see kind of what we're dealing with.”

Since the land bank board has only completed total demolition with this grant program to date, Johansen added that he researched what the grant would cover if an interior demo is an option.

“Architectural and engineering fees and costs are covered by the grant,” he said. “We had mentioned possibly building an additional wall and deeding the existing wall to the adjacent owner. That is not covered, but they do cover things on a case-by-case basis, so we can always ask, but in the guidelines, it does not state that that would be something that would be covered.”

Walker asked if costs for the “initial assessment” would be covered even if they ultimately decide against any type of demolition for the property.

“That’s a good question,” Johansen said. “With our asbestos surveys and abatements, we went forward with those. I'm not sure if ODOD would reimburse us if we didn't move forward with the demolition, so I can definitely look into that.”

“We might be on the hook for some major engineering fees if we don’t decide to demo,” Walker said.

In another topic related to asbestos abatement, Johansen said that he is “working with the Ohio EPA and our fire safety inspectors from the local fire departments to obtain letters” for six properties in the building demolition program classified as “hot demos.

“The surveyor said that they were too dangerous for him to go into and to take surveys for some, and then others to abate, before the demolition, so they needed to be hot demos,” Johansen said. “They don't want his word for it on the part of going into the structure. They want someone who is trained in asbestos.

“I’m working with them on getting that documentation so that the contractor can submit his 10-day EPA notifications. I'm working on that.”

• Daniels asked Book for an update on the previously discussed potential purchasing of tax lien certificates.

“Vickie and I discussed it, and the entity that is doing the mass purchase of tax liens, their time frame is several months out,” Book said. “I think we want to move a little quicker on certain ones that we have folks in this room that are interested in.”

• The board approved the financial report for December 2024 as presented. Johansen reported a beginning balance of $431,273.39 and ending balance of $417,434.46 for the month, with expenditures including salary/expenses, rent, legal/professional services and environmental testing/sampling.

Also approved was a list of outstanding bills to be paid. According to Johansen, invoices included rent, salary and legal fees; office supplies; and membership in the Ohio Land Bank Association.

In another financial approval, the board authorized Millhuff-Stang, via engagement letter, to complete the HCLRC’s independent financial review for 2024 at a cost of $2,900.

• Johansen announced a change in his office hours, which will now be Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:30-4 p.m. and on Mondays and Fridays by appointment. The office is located in the Hillsboro Business Complex at 129 North High Street, suite E.  

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