Hillsboro City Council OKs legislation for Gross-Feibel demolition, infrastructure projects

Legislation to seek bids for the demolition of the former Gross-Feibel building and to pave Harry Sauner Road were among the items approved by Hillsboro City Council members at their Wednesday, April 16 meeting.

As previously reported, the meeting was moved up one day from its usual Thursday date at the request of council members who observe Maundy Thursday.

Several pieces of legislation were approved Thursday, including a resolution authorizing the safety and service director to solicit bids and accept the lowest and best bid for demolition of the six parcels encompassing the former Gross-Feibel Safe Company property was approved as an emergency.

As previously reported, members of the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) board agreed to assist in covering demolition costs for the Gross-Feibel property in Hillsboro March 20, after hearing a proposal from Hillsboro Mayor Justin Harsha.

The property was previously tied up in litigation. In December 2024, the 10th District Court of Appeals upheld a magistrate’s February 2024 decision that the City of Hillsboro is “entitled to the return of the monies and property it transferred to and is currently being held by” the Hillsboro Area Economic Development Corporation, a community improvement corporation founded in 2015 under the tenure of former Hillsboro Mayor Drew Hastings. Among those parcels was the former Gross-Feibel property.

At the land bank board’s meeting, Harsha said the city had “a bid of $96,000 to take [the Gross-Feibel property] down” and “the environmentals done.” In response to a question from council member Jason Brown Wednesday, Harsha clarified that the project has not been awarded.

“There was a quote, which is kind of a standard practice on any kind of project like this, to get a ground rule of how much the project’s going to cost,” Harsha said. “We had a number — which, there's been a couple numbers over the years — and we approached the land bank to see if they'd be willing to split the project to lower the city's cost on the project.

“We knew we had to bid it out, so it was a quote, just to get a baseline on the project.”

The land bank board has agreed to a “split” of the cleanup fees.

Several infrastructure-related measures were also approved following suspension of the three-reading rule, including a resolution to solicit bids and accept the lowest and best bid for paving Harry Sauner Road passing as an emergency.

Council member Mary Stanforth asked “why” the city wanted to pave Harry Sauner Road.

“We have crack sealed it for the last three years, and the center of it, you can't even see the striping,” public works superintendent Shawn Adkins said. “I can't do any more with the cracks. It needs milled.

“It's our most traveled non-state route in the city.”

Adkins added that the center “hasn't been done for years, and that's where the issue is.

“I’d really like to do the whole thing — mill it, pave it and stripe it — so it's all one continuous street at the same time,” Adkins said.

Council member Kathryn Hapner asked if there were “plans to put a turn lane” on the road in front of the Days Inn/Peoples Bank entrances.

“There's actually a court order that says that when the road is next done, that turn lane — but at the cost of the hotels — is supposed to be put in,” Hapner said. “I actually represented the city in that lawsuit many years ago, and so I just wondered if that was ever going to be done.”

According to court records, the decision was handed down in September 2004. Harsha, Adkins and safety and service director Brianne Abbott each said they were not aware of any court orders.

“It was supposed to be a right turn lane to alleviate some of the congestion of the traffic, so that there would be a turn-off point for people going into the both the hotel and the bank, so that it doesn't back up traffic the rest of Harry Sauner,” Hapner said. “We got the order from the court, and that basically agreed that the next time that there was a resurfacing, it would go in.”

Adkins said he had “never heard that in 27 years.” Abbott asked Hapner if she could get them a copy of the judgment entry.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me whether it happens or not,” Hapner said. “It was just that since we went to the trouble of getting the judgment to do that, I just thought if it was going to be done, this would be a good time to do it.”

An ordinance authorizing the Safety and Service Director to enter into an agreement with ODOT for project PID 119779 passed as an emergency measure. The project is “a bridge project to repair the abutments on HIG-62-17.10 (SFN 3601269) near Diamond Drive,” according to the legislation.

“This project is ODOT-funded,” Abbott said. “We do need to request the suspension of the three-reading rule and passage by emergency as the city just received the agreement from ODOT this past month, and ODOT needs the agreement executed to begin their project and meet their existing project deadlines.”

Finally, an ordinance accepting the dedication of the right-of-way on the Roberts Lane extension from the Hillsboro Community Improvement Corporation to the City of Hillsboro was approved as an emergency.

“We are requesting the suspension of the three-reading rule and passage by emergency to allow the city to maintain the new roads and right-of-ways for the newly developed area,” Abbott said.

In other legislation:

• An ordinance amending section 39.20 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to the City’s records request policy was approved by a 6-0 vote following its third reading.

The policy will be amended to impose a fee of “$75 for each 15-minute segment of footage, not to exceed $750 per requested video,” for records requests involving body-worn camera footage at the police department. According to Hillsboro Police Chief Eric Daniels, the proposal is in response to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s recent signing of House Bill 315, which allows agencies to implement a fee for these records if they so choose.

The street and safety committee report reviewed the legislation and recommended its passage, according to chair Adam Wilkin.

• A proposed ordinance to expand the existing Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, or DORA, also passed by a 6-0 vote on its third reading. The ordinance is to “extend the hours and boundary of the DORA district,” Wilkin said in February. Once finalized, the DORA will now include the 100 block of East Main Street and will be in effect during any hours of operation for participating businesses.

• Council heard the first reading of an ordinance creating section 35.061 of the codified ordinance of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to income tax regulations.

“This legislation will add language to the code of ordinances to require landlords to provide a list of tenants to the Hillsboro income tax office to ensure registration,” Abbott said.

If approved, the new section of city code would order “all property owners” renting living space to submit “a written report disclosing the name, address and telephone number, if available, of each tenant known to have occupied on such apartment, room, or other residential dwelling rental property” on or by Jan. 31 of each calendar year. Failure to comply could lead to a misdemeanor charge, according to the proposed legislation.

• An ordinance amending section 155.999 of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro pertaining to zoning violation penalties had its first reading and was subsequently placed in the zoning and annexation committee for further review.

According to the ordinance, the legislation was recommended by the Hillsboro Planning Commission. The proposed language update would change the following sentence: “Whoever is convicted of, or pleads guilty to, a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor shall be sentenced in accordance with the provisions set forth in the city code of ordinances.” As proposed, the new sentence would read: “Whoever violates any section of Chapter 155 is guilty of a minor misdemeanor, unless otherwise recited in Chapter 155, and shall be sentenced in accordance with the provisions set forth in the city code of ordinances.”

• An ordinance amending sections of the codified ordinances of the City of Hillsboro and adopting the City of Hillsboro Standard Drawings Manual and Design Criteria Manual was introduced and placed in the street and safety committee.

Part of the ordinance is the approval of the Standard Drawings Manual and Design Criteria Manual, while the ordinance would also update numerous city ordinances. According to the legislation, if approved, “Hillsboro Codified Ordinances 91.60, 96.15, 96.16, 96.17, 96.18, 96.19, 96.20, 96.21, 96.22, 96.23, 50.020, 50.021, 50.022, 50.035, 50.036, 50.037, 50.038, 50.039, 50.043, 50.044, 51.026, 51.027, 51.045, 51.046, 51.047, 51.048, 51.075, 159.22, 159.23, 159.24, 159.25, 159.26, 159.27, 159.28, 159.29, 159.30, 159.31, 159.32, 159.33, 159.45, 154.044, 154.046, 154.047, 154.052, 154.048, 154.067, 154.068, 154.069, 154.070, 154.071, 154.072 [and] 154.073 shall be amended by striking the current language and replacing such language with ‘The Standard Drawings Manual and Design Criteria Manual is adopted by reference as if set out at length herein. A copy shall be on file in the office of the Mayor.’”

In other discussion:

• Abbott dedicated the safety and service director’s report to an update on the long-discussed Marriott Hotel project and action on an ordinance approved over five years ago.

“We have recently received notice from our TIF attorney that the project is heating up, which I'm going to assume means that financing is close,” Abbott said. “He will be present at the next council meeting in May, and he will be presenting some legislation.

“This legislation will authorize the issuance of the TIF bonds for the hotel project.”

As previously reported, both Hillsboro City Council and Hillsboro City Schools agreed in October 2019 to establish a tax increment financing [TIF] district for the proposed multimillion-dollar hotel project in the city of Hillsboro, near the state Route 73/Harry Sauner Road intersection. At the time of that approval, the city’s bond counsel Richard Spoor said that it would offset the cost of infrastructure, then estimated at $3 million.

An ordinance approved by the city in 2019 declared a five-acre tract at 1308 North West Street (state Route 73) “to be exempt from real property taxation” and “requiring annual statutory service payments in lieu of taxes.” The ordinance also creates the TIF fund for “the deposit of the balance of such statutory service payments.”

The Hillsboro Finance Committee revisited the legislation in July 2024 and in a split decision voted to deny a request from hotel developers to extend the length and amount of the TIF agreement.

“I know it's been something we've been talking about for years, so hopefully we can get moving on it,” Abbott said.

• In lieu of his regular report, Harsha spoke in support of Issue 2 on the upcoming May 6 primary ballot. Council was also given a copy of the Ohio Economic Development Association’s policy statement in support of Issue 2 prior to the meeting.

“The Ohio Economic Development Association strongly supports state Issue 2, which the administration of the City of Hillsboro also does,” Harsha said. “This renews the state capital improvement program and ensures continued investment in Ohio's infrastructure, and this does not raise taxes. This is a renewal.

“This program provides critical funding for roads, bridges, water systems, site development, and it directly impacts Ohio's economic competitiveness. I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew that the City of Hillsboro is in strong support of this, and we hope that the voters agree with us. It’s a very important program.”

Council president Tom Eichinger asked council if they were “interested in also endorsing voting favorably on Issue 2,” but the suggestion died with no response.

“We won’t go on record, then,” Eichinger said.

• The lone committee report was given by community enhancement committee chair Hapner, who said that her group has met three times to review a proposal for a National Fitness Campaign grant. Hapner said she and the other two committee members, Dan Baucher and Jason Brown, have also done research independently.

Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner discussed the proposed National Fitness Campaign initiative at the February council meeting with a proposal to implement the National Fitness Campaign’s Fitness Courts as a potential addition to the city’s parks system.

“We have a proposal that we’ll meet with [city law director] Mrs. [Randalyn] Worley about, getting legislation for our next meeting, but there may be a holdup if we have to bid things out,” Hapner said. “We’re looking forward to moving forward with the fitness project.”

• Council members received notice from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control regarding the opportunity to submit objections to local liquor permit renewals. The council members indicated they had no objections.

• A letter from a Hillsboro resident seeking council to “waive or adjust” a water bill was placed in the utilities committee for further review.

• Under new business, Stanforth asked when council would start receiving auditor’s reports, as she said they had not gotten one in their packets “for months.”

“She [the council clerk, presumably] must have not sent it to council,” auditor Dawson Barreras said. “We’ve all got the report, so I'll send them off.”

“That would be nice,” Stanforth said. “Thank you.”

• At the beginning of the meeting, council voted 6-0 to excuse the absence of council member Greg Maurer, who was unable to attend due to a family emergency.

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