MANSFIELD — The Richland County Land Bank board on Wednesday approved spending up to $10,000 with a Columbus architecture firm to develop 3-D designs showing potential future development at the former Mansfield YMCA site.
The “white box massing” work by archall architects will help show what sorts of buildings could best occupy the space at 455 Park Ave. West, according to the board.
“I think they will help us determine (how to proceed) by doing a site-capacity study to determine its best use,” Land Bank Executive Director Amy Hamrick said.
Board Vice Chair Jeff Parton said the work will “help show what could be” by providing potential developers designs that include surrounding properties, landscaping, etc.
Board Chair Bart Hamilton said it will show potential building exteriors only.
“It’s about what will fit in that space … what size,” he said of the roughly 3.2-acre site.
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry, a member of the board, said it will take the architecture firm “a couple of months” to complete the work.
Hamrick said the board will likely be able, at its August meeting, to approve the estimated $100,000 that will be needed to purchase and place the needed fill dirt to finish the re-demolition and clean-up of the former YMCA site.
“Once we get (more) reimbursement money coming in from (the Ohio Department of Development), we can approve additional Land Bank funds toward the project and finish it up,” she said.
Earlier this year, the Land Bank and the City of Mansfield were forced to fix a problem left behind by an improper demolition job the city paid $500,000 to have done five years ago — including a $405,000 state grant and $600,000 from the city’s PRIDE fund.
City officials and the Land Bank have wrestled with the issue since it became clear potential developers had no interest in a site on one of the city’s busiest streets — after Page Exacavating from Lucas finished its work in 2019.
Hamrick said the new contractor crews dug down as deep as 40 feet to remove material left behind by Page Excavation in what became a real-life money pit.
“Once we tell them everything is buried, (developers) quickly lose interest,” Hamrick said in March.
Mansfield Law Director Rollie Harper has said the city may seek (through outside legal counsel) to recoup the costs it paid for the initial demolition.
“That’s certainly the goal,” Harper said in March.
“We are in the process of hiring outside counsel. We’re looking at negligence and fraud and we’re going to take it from there,” he said.
