Ashland to buy and repair crumbling parking lot on Center Street at Town Creek

Zach Tuggle, Ashland Times Gazette
·3 min read
The city of Ashland has entered a six-year lease agreement for the parking lot between Farm & Home Hardware and Schines Theater to lease the lot for $1 a year for five years and then purchase it in year six for $1 additional.
The city of Ashland has entered a six-year lease agreement for the parking lot between Farm & Home Hardware and Schines Theater to lease the lot for $1 a year for five years and then purchase it in year six for $1 additional.

ASHLAND − The parking lot on Center Street between Farm & Home Hardware and Schines Theater will be purchased by the city.

Ashland has entered into an agreement to lease the land for $1 each year for the next five years, then purchase it for another dollar the year after, according to Mayor Matt Miller.

"So we would have invested a total of $6 in that purchase agreement," Miller said.

The parking lot needs a lot of repairs, though, and that's why the city acquired it at such a low price.

"It is not an inexpensive project," Miller said.

Retaining wall slowly crumbling into Ashland's Town Creek

The project came about because of deterioration along the parking lot's bank at Center Run Creek, known to residents as Town Creek.

The retaining wall has fallen apart over the years, and the parking lot's owner, Farm & Home Hardware, has had to block off a few parking spaces that are no longer safe to use.

A crumbling retaining wall will need to be fixed at the parking lot's bank at Center Run Creek.
A crumbling retaining wall will need to be fixed at the parking lot's bank at Center Run Creek.

"The retaining wall that exists there on the south side of the creek has been slowly eroding and collapsing," Miller said.

Left unchecked, the erosion could soon cause a dam to form in the stream.

Erosion puts Ashland sewer line in peril

"Of course, the city of Ashland has a sewer line that runs down the center of Town Creek," Miller explained.

Leaving the situation unaddressed would not be in the city's best interest during normal circumstance, the mayor said, but now it's become even more important because of renovation work to the nearby theater.

"The retaining wall that exists there on the south side of the creek has been slowly eroding and collapsing," Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said of a parking lot the city is buying. Left unchecked, the erosion could soon cause a dam to form in the stream.
"The retaining wall that exists there on the south side of the creek has been slowly eroding and collapsing," Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said of a parking lot the city is buying. Left unchecked, the erosion could soon cause a dam to form in the stream.

"They need to run a sewer line to hook into our sewer line," Miller said. "They're in the creek and they are afraid that if they disturb any of the land around that location, the whole thing's going to collapse in the water."

Miller said the city "can't have that happen."

"It would not only be collapsing in the creek and damming up the creek, but it would also be collapsing on top of our sewer line," he said.

Project will 'most likely be an emergency repair'

The solution was for the city to take ownership of the property to not only repair the retaining wall, but also protect the city's sewage line.

"This is going to make it a lot easier for the construction crews and contractors to get that work done," Miller said.

The entire project likely will cost at least six figures, the mayor estimated, but he warned it's way too early to know for certain because contractors have not yet had a chance to visit the parking lot.

Once the city purchases and repairs a parking lot between Farm & Home Hardware and Schines Theatre, it'll become a public lot.
Once the city purchases and repairs a parking lot between Farm & Home Hardware and Schines Theatre, it'll become a public lot.

The mayor said residents should see the parking area become a construction site very soon, as the city plans to move on the project with urgency.

"That would most likely be an emergency repair," Miller said.

City hopes to have parking lot done for theater's reopening

The parking lot will become a public lot; it will still be accessible by patrons of Farm & Home Hardware, as well as those of Save A Lot foods and the soon-to-be renovated Schines Theatre.

"It just so happens that the parking lot is in a key position as our community continues to grow," Miller said. "It's going to be important that the public has access to that parking lot."

The mayor hopes the entire project can be finished sometime this spring to coincide with the reopening of the theater, the date of which is still to be determined.

"The construction, or the renovation, of the theater will be complete probably sometime in the month of March," Miller said. "That means, of course, that the opening of the theater would be shortly after and we need to have access to that parking lot and have it all cleaned up and ready to go by the time we have the first events at the theater."

ztuggle@gannett.com

419-564-3508

Twitter: @zachtuggle

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland to buy parking lot for $6; will begin repair work ASAP