Highland County land bank board weighing options on several properties

Members of the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) board continued discussions on properties impacted by the state’s recently Brownfield Remediation and Building Demolition and Site Revitalization grant programs during their Thursday, Dec. 19 meeting.
 
Land bank coordinator Jason Johansen said that work is already underway on their next round of Building Demolition and Site Revitalization projects, as the land bank board voted in November to award bids.

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.

Although the land bank board voted to amend the completion date to May 1, Johansen said Reed Mechnical Construction has been able to get started on 419 Market St., 421 Market St. and 11884 S.R. 771 in Leesburg.

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 they have received approval from the state to proceed if they wish, as they have “$88,000, roughly, to still spend.” He asked the board to decide how they want to proceed.

“When we did the bid back in July, we had some contractors say that they were going to stay away from that,” Johansen said. “We could tell from at least the exterior that bricks were intertwined, and it was going to be something that, if you knock down these two, an active business next to it was going to have to be demolished as well.”

Since they do not want to destroy the building for the sake of the existing business, Johansen said the property owner has asked if they could pursue “an interior demolition” instead.

“We would probably need to get a structural engineer to start to see if that's even something that's possible,” Johansen said. “Once we perhaps did that, [the property owner] would be willing to rebuild back the back wall and put a new roof on. Those expenses that are not covered by the grant.

“An interior demolition doesn't really get rid of the blight factor from the outside, but it at least gets rid of the dilapidated part of the inside.”

In response to a question from Environmental consultant Matt Wagner of TetraTech, Johansen said that there are multiple owners involved, with one individual owning the two properties up for debate and a separate individual owning the existing business.

Board president Terry Britton said he doesn’t “know what we're going to get into if we” pursue an interior demolition as opposed to the total demolitions they’ve done on other properties through this program.

Board member David Daniels added that he was not ready to “make a decision” without an assessment of the property being done.    

“I think that obviously the community wants it,” Daniels said. “I think that they would welcome that. I think we try to find somebody go in and do an initial assessment and just look at it and say, ‘yes, this is a candidate for it or ‘no, it's not’ before we even try to make a decision.

“I think we can make a decision on whether or not to send somebody in to do an assessment, but I don't think we can make a decision beyond that.”

Wagner advised that they should also look into whether “engineering services upfront would be an eligible expense” covered by the grant.

Board member Lauren Walker asked if another option would be to “build a new interior wall and deed that shared party wall to the other people.

“I think that was something similar, like we did over here [in Hillsboro] with the Parker Hotel,” Walker said. “There was a shared party wall, and something structural inside ended up happening to create a new wall, and then the old wall was deeded to the property owner that didn't want to take part in any kind of rehab.”

Johansen said that “putting a wall up would definitely help,” but they would need to investigate whether the grant would cover such an expense.

After the discussion, the board voted to approve conducting an assessment on the property to weigh their options.

For an update on the Brownfield Remediation Program, Johansen said that their fourth and final application has been approved by the state. As announced by the Ohio Governor’s Office Dec. 4, “the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation was awarded $497,522 for the former Rocky Fork Truck Stop cleanup/remediation.

“This project focuses on BUSTR corrective actions, including remedial action, tier 2 evaluations, model calibration and well abandonment. The former gas station and convenience store site includes historical contamination from underground storage tanks removed in 2023. The project will prepare the property for future commercial or industrial development, contributing to local economic growth.”

The land bank board previously used a grant from the first iteration of the Brownfield Remediation Program on work at that property, which Johansen discussed in his report.

“Obviously, with that project out there, we've definitely spent our fair share of brownfield dollars,” Johansen said. “Without a program like this, it would, it would potentially sit there for years and years. There’s not a lot of developers who are going to come in and spend a million dollars to clean up a site like that. By having this program, we can really get it cleaned up and have some redevelopment out at Rocky Fork Lake for that region.

“We’re working with TetraTech to continue injections and trying to remediate that soil and that groundwater and try to get a clean site. We're just trying to satisfy BUSTR at this point. We want an NFA, no further action.”

Johansen added that “banks usually don’t want to give any loans or any funding to dirty sites,” so once the land is cleaned up, the owners will also have more funding opportunities available to them.

“It’s a much-needed site to be cleaned,” he said.

Wagner also spoke about the Brownfield Remediation program statewide, as he said the Department of Development awarded “over $315 million in grants,” with some areas, such as Cleveland, receiving significantly more funding than originally anticipated.

“There's some hurt feelings with regards to that, just because everyone thought it was $175 million,” Wagner said. “I guess, based on the way that the legislation was laid out, was over the two-year period, so they had some discretion in what they wanted to do and felt that the projects that were submitted were worthy.

“We anticipated a new round to open up somewhere in January, maybe early February, and they should have roughly $50 [million] to $55 million still available.”
    
In response to a question from Johansen, Wagner said the land bank should be working to identify any other “possibilities for that next round” for their January meeting.

In other discussion:

• Johansen discussed potential options to purchase three parcels adjoining 9955 U.S. 62 in Samantha, a piece of land that was previously donated to the land bank and cleaned up using grant funding.

“It's a nice vacant lot that we've been having mowed for the previous six to eight months,” Johansen said. “It technically wouldn't fall into our side lot program, but the issue with that lot is that we can't get a septic tank on there. It's not big enough. But by acquiring these three lots next to it, we can get to some drainage to put in a septic tank to make that lot more valuable for someone to build on.”

In addition to providing access to drainage, Johansen said acquiring the nearby parcels would give the land bank an opportunity to demolish some “very dilapidated” structures.

“I'm thinking that would be something toward the the tax lien certificate purchasing that we had discussed in the past,” Johansen said. “The taxes aren't high enough — they're not greater than the land value — but I've reached out multiple times. It’s something even Mackenzie [Edison, the previous land bank coordinator] was working on.

“We believe the owners are deceased, and I have not had any luck contacting the heirs to the property.”

No action was taken, as Johansen said “we aren’t there yet on the lien purchasing. At the board’s November meeting, they approved a motion for their attorney Todd Book to pursue purchasing tax liens.

“That would be one that I would want to be at the top of the list,” Johansen said.

Walker suggested that they could also have a title search done on the parcels and consider taking them “through court as a nuisance abatement.”

• The board agreed to allow an adjoining owner to a recently acquired parcel in Hillsboro to have the parcel surveyed. At their November meeting, the board accepted the piece of forfeited land, valued at $300, on Bigelow Street, which Johansen and Book said would qualify for their side lot program.  

“[The adjacent property owner] would pay for that survey,” Johansen said. “I believe it's going to be under the .15 acres, which would fit into our side lot program.

“We sell those lots for $500. The land value is assessed at $300, but we aren't really sure with the acreage yet.”

Book added that the adjacent property owner “would pay for the survey as part of the purchase price” for the lot.

• For 6747/6749 Heather Moor Trail, two adjoining parcels (considered one property to sell) that the HCLRC obtained via tax foreclosure and cleaned up, Johansen asked if the land bank is “ready to list that property for sale or for bid,” as he said there has been “a lot of interest.

“We do have some some money into that,” Johansen said. “We have about $1,500 in tax foreclosure. We wiped, through the foreclosure, about $30,000 in taxes.

“We have a repair for $1,300 to the sewer, a grant-funded demo for about $10,500; of course, an asbestos survey for $400. It didn't have asbestos, so that was good. It didn't need abatement. We've spent about $550 in lawn care. A fallen tree there was $300 to clean up.”

Daniels said he would “like to see our costs associated with that property” as well as consider “fair market value.

“I don't know too many lots out at the lake that are going to sell for the $50,000 it sounds like we've got in that property, but I don't think we can just simply make a decision to give it away,” Daniels said.

• In his legal report, Book said he wanted to meet with board member Vickie Warnock, who is the Highland County Treasurer, for further discussion of the aforementioned potential purchasing of tax lien certificates.

“I want to talk with her about next steps as it relates to that for a lot of different reasons, whether it be property that we would try to acquire or go through the foreclosure process for land bank purposes, or purposes of being able to make property more productive, or for other reasons,” Book said. “The board, I think, has decided that that's the path we want to go down, so I want to start taking steps in that regard.

“I’m not sure exactly where the treasurer's office is on the sale of some of those liens, but we want to be part of that process, too.”

In addition to the Samantha property mentioned by Johansen, Daniels suggested that Book also look into three parcels on Taylor Street in the Greenfield area (Madison Township), as requested by resident Richard Counter.

“Please consider adding that to your discussions,” Daniels said.

“Duly noted,” Book said.

• The board approved the financial reports as presented. Johansen reported a beginning balance of $437,920.32 and an ending balance of $431,273.39 for November 2024, with expenses including legal and environmental work, advertising costs, mowing fees and rent.

Also approved was a motion to approve outstanding bills, which include legal fees,  rent and Johansen’s salary/expenses, plus reimbursement for purchasing office supplies.

• The board held an executive session regarding personnel, pursuant to ORC 121.22 G (1).

(Editor’s note: Thank you to Johansen for his assistance and contributions to this article.)

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