Coshocton land bank: What you need to know about recent meeting
COSHOCTON − The Coshocton Land Reutilization Corporation, commonly known as the land bank, recently met in monthly session.
Here are three key highlights from the meeting:
Port Authority getting paid for administration
Tiffany Swigert, board member and director of the Coshocton Port Authority, suggested her office receive $15,000 this year and next year for administration of land bank business. This would compliment the salaries of office manager Ashley Guthrie and economic development specialist Hannah Gallagher.
She said her office has taken on additional work related to the land bank, primarily connected to the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program by the Ohio Department of Development for razing of blighted and vacant structures.
"It's a pretty good amount of workload. We're going through and identifying the structures, doing all the research to make sure the structures are something we can tear down; is it vacant, is it blighted; reaching out to owners, which sometimes takes multiple attempts, and then making sure all the eligibility criteria is there. We're working with BJAAM (Environmental) to make sure the budget fits in," Swigert said.
The port authority would become the primary contact for land bank work and handle day-to-day operations. Coshocton County Treasurer Janette Donaker would remain executive director with Commissioner Gary Fischer as president of the board. They would continue to review financial records and sign checks for payment. The situation will be reviewed and could be altered in the future.
Second round of demolitions being finalized
The land bank is continuing to work on finalizing a second round of building demolitions from a $500,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development.
The land bank is looking to use about $290,000 in remaining funds to raze two structures in Warsaw, two in New Castle, three in Canal Lewisville and two in the City of Coshocton. A structure on County Road 106 was bumped from the list for a third property in Canal Lewisville.
It's hoped a contractors' meeting and bids for work will be done by the end of the year. Swigert said they're looking to have $4,000 to $6,000 left for any unforeseen expenses.
The county is also poised to receive another $500,000 in 2024 and 2025 for demolition of vacant and blighted structures. Swigert said it's hoped the program will become permanent. She said they're focusing on high traffic areas of the county first, hence the County Road 106 structure being moved to next year.
The land bank has already used Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program funding to raze the former Pike Township Building at 18180 County Road 80 in Frazeysburg; a former retail building at 46511 County Road 495; a vacant home at 32099 U.S. 36 in Walhonding; vacant houses at 643 Poplar St., 647 Poplar St. and 800 South Second St.; three vacant and blighted buildings at 17843 Ohio 60 in Dresden; and two vacant and blighted houses at 32337 U.S. 36 in Walhonding. As those projects came in under estimates, there was leftover money for a second round this year.
Rules for selling properties to be established
Donaker said she has been contacted by individuals who were upset that land bank property isn't advertised for sale before being sold to an adjacent property owner. It's been traditional for the land bank to offer any land without development potential to adjacent property owners first. If they turn it down, the land bank would then accept public bids.
While it's always been done this way, Donaker suggested making that an official rule in the land bank's by-laws. She said she's going to research how other counties with land banks handle such matters.
Mills said he believes the adjacent land owners should always get first dibs as they had to put up with whatever the situation was next to them.
The next land bank meeting will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 6 in the commissioners' office.
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Three highlights from Coshocton land bank meeting
