ASHLAND – One of the Ashland County Land Reutilization Corporation’s first walks in the park could be a climb up Mount Everest.
That was the analogy Hal Sheaffer, the director of the new land bank, used to describe the project city and county leaders hope to tackle using the new quasi-governmental entity.
Mayor Matt Miller, who also serves on the land bank board, announced at a land bank board meeting Thursday his desire to use the land bank to clean up what he refers to as the Pump House Corridor.
Miller said he would like the land bank to take on both the former F.E. Myers and Pump House property (the portion north of Fourth Street between Orange and Union Streets where the rubble stands) and the adjacent former Hess and Clark factory 10 E. 7th Street.
The mayor said he received confirmation Wednesday from the Hess and Clark building owner that the owner would be willing to give the property to the land bank. The transaction could take some time, however, because the property is currently tied up in litigation in Michigan, according to Miller.
Miller said the former Pump House property in question, which was foreclosed by the county in June, will go up for public auction Tuesday, Aug 28. If it doesn’t sell at that time, the property will be put up for auction once more Sept. 11.
After that, county commissioner Denny Bittle said, public entities including the city, county and Ashland City School District would have a 10-day window to acquire the property before the state could come in and take the property.
Miller said he would like to receive clarification as to whether the land bank can acquire the property during the 10-day window. If the land bank can’t acquire the property directly, Miller said, he would like the city and county to work together to ensure that one of the two governmental entities acquire the land temporarily and then get it into the land bank’s hands.
Noting that whoever owns the properties assumes the environmental risk of the cleanup, Sheaffer said the land bank should do its homework about the environmental conditions of both properties before acquiring them.
Land bank board member Carrie Stewart said she has looked over a summary of an environmental report for the former Pump House property and that she believes the report does not look too bad.
In talking with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about options to clean up the property, Miller said the EPA indicated a land bank would have fewer “hoops to jump through” than a private entity or a normal government entity would.
“They also made very clear to us that the future use of the property does have an impact on the amount of cleanup we must do,” Miller said. “If we choose to take it back to green space, a simple grass field, that requires the least amount of remediation.”
The EPA also indicated that lumping both the Pump House and Hess and Clark properties together would make the project more likely to be eligible for federal funding, Bittle added.
Though the land bank would own the properties at least in the short-term, Miller said he sees the Pump House Corridor cleanup as being a community project toward which community partners and private individuals would be willing to contribute funds.
“This is all great stuff because for the first time in a long time we’re seeing that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to these properties. We’ve got all the right players sitting at the table, and everyone is willing to take action to expedite the process,” Miller said.
“So don’t worry, Hal. We’ll be right there with you as you climb Mount Everest.”
For more information about the Pump House property, check out Ashland Source’s four-part series, Fourth & Orange.
