MANSFIELD — The Richland County Land Bank board approved a resolution Wednesday that makes reimbursement funds available to developers who encounter problems related to demolitions on properties formerly owned by the land bank.
The resolution was adopted after Amy Hamrick, manager of the land bank, gave an update on the redevelopment of 131-133 Franklin St.
The land bank sold the adjoining vacant lots to Blue Door Developers earlier this year. The new local developer planned to build four, one-bedroom rental units, but encountered massive amounts of debris after beginning site work.
According to Hamrick, Blue Door has removed more than 106 tons of buried demolition debris at 133 Franklin St. and are still digging.
The debris is from a structure demolished in 2008, before the land bank took ownership of the property. Hamrick said that the land bank’s specifications for demolition require four feet of topsoil on top of any hard fill (the block, foundation and any material from a structure that won’t decompose), but that the debris found at 133 Franklin St. included other items, like tennis shoes.
Blue Door also found improperly abandoned cisterns buried on both lots.
According to Hamrick, prior to the land bank’s existence, the City of Mansfield had everything buried on site after demolitions.
“A lot of these vacant lots that had structures on there, we’re going to run into this,” she warned. “This is not the first time we’ve hit debris, and it won’t be the last time.”
Hamrick shared a letter from Chris McCauley of Chris Dirt Excavating and Blue Door Developers, asking the land bank to develop a policy to help developers with unexpected debris-related costs.
“If (the members of the land bank board) create and develop a process and procedure for cases such as this, we will continue to build and develop,” McCauley wrote.
“Bigger than that, any other future developers that may come through our area will understand from the start that Mansfield, OH is looking to redevelop and are on the cutting edge of revitalizing their community.
“If this is not addressed and a plan is not developed, no one will redevelop on any level of scale due to the unplannable expenses that will occur on a very frequent basis,” McCauley wrote.
At the ribbon cutting of Blue Door’s first new apartment build, McCauley and his partner William Barber said they planned to construct 100 total units on land bank-owned properties over the next decade.
Hamrick said she’d reached out to multiple Ohio land banks to ask if they have similar procedures. In Columbus, the city has a grant program to help developers with unanticipated costs. In another Ohio county, the land bank had received a similar complaint and chose not to take action.
The developer stopped the project and never came back to town.
Board member Michael Howard spoke in favor of reviewing individual requests from developers.
“If there were no real standards about how those demos were supposed to take place way back when, I’d still like to take a look at each case individually,” he said.
Hamrick agreed and noted that in the case of Franklin Street, the cost of removing the debris was nearly as much as it would have cost to demolish a building.
“If we want development to continue, we need to have a means to help them keep building,” she said. “If we have developers developing in the lower income areas, they can’t really take that kind of hit.”
The board ultimately approved a policy that would require any developer to submit a complete breakdown of the labor, costs and hours associated with unexpected debris. The board’s special consideration committee would then review application for redevelopment reimbursement grants on a case by case basis.
The land bank board also approved various property transfers and ongoing plans for the demolition of the former Plymouth Hotel.
Hamrick also announced the land bank received a certificate for excellence in financial reporting for fiscal year 2019 from Ohio Auditor of the State Keith Faber’s office.
