By Kimberly Pistone
For the Sidney Daily News
SIDNEY — The Shelby County Land Reutilization Corp. (Land Bank) discussed the status of properties and grants, as well as the Wagner demolition and other topics, at a meeting on May 21.
According to Director Doug Ahlers’s report, the Land Bank added two new properties in April. There are also 12 residential properties in foreclosure: 11 in Sidney and one in Jackson Center. There are two properties to be demolished in Sidney and one in Newport, all of which should be covered under the 2024 Housing Grant.
The Wagner demolition is continuing. They have extended the contract to complete demolition at no additional cost and were hoping for Phase I to be completed within 30 days of the meeting. Burgess & Niple will begin testing for Phase II as soon as the debris is removed; the newest goal for completion of Phase II is before the Shelby County Fair begins in July.
CSX delays have caused additional costs due to necessary insurance coverage by the railroad. Board member Bob Guillozet scheduled a meeting with Congressman Jim Jordan and was planning on asking Jordan to help with the CSX delays. As of the meeting, there was one corner of the building standing because an old USGS marker was there. The Board was planning on checking to see if they needed to keep the USGS marker, or if they could donate it to the Shelby County Historical Society.
A team from the Land Bank visited Unibilt to explore options for affordable housing. Unibilt makes manufactured homes and then moves them to the appropriate site. Several of the available options may work, but they need to work on pricing.
The Land Bank will be sending out demolition bids for several properties as soon as they hear back from ODOD regarding grant requests. They have submitted grant requests and an extension on the ODOD grant for the Wagner demolition. They also continue to work to locate additional funding.
The housing grant request for $436,000 has been submitted and is under review. They have also submitted the brownfield grant request for just under $1,000,000, which will be used to clean up four parcels in Shelby County.
Todd Lotz reported the current balance for the Land Bank is $533,722.86, which includes a loan from the Shelby County Commissioners for $200,000. This month the Land Bank had income of $4,396.31, including the sale of properties, and expenses of $6,560.89.
The next meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. on June 18 in the Commissioners’ meeting room.
