Land bank awards contracts to raze eight properties
COSHOCTON − The Coshocton County Land Reutilization Corporation, commonly known as the land bank, recently awarded eight demolition contracts for structures across the county.
The land bank opened bids at its November board meeting and reviewed them since, announcing winners at the December board meeting.
Elite Bridge Services of Kimbolton won the demolition of the former Pike Township Building at 18180 County Road 80 in Frazeysburg. William Albert Excavating will be razing a former retail building at 46511 County Road 495 for $24,698 and a vacant home at 32099 U.S. 36 in Walhonding for $15,430.
The other structures will be torn down by Vic Allen Construction. They include vacant houses at 643 Poplar St. for $19,700, 647 Poplar St. for $20,300 and 800 South Second St. for $17,600; three vacant and blighted buildings at 17843 Ohio 60 in Dresden for $34,000 and a vacant and blighted house at 32337 U.S. 36 in Walhonding for $17,000.
Also submitting bids, but not receiving any of the projects, was J. Miller and Son Excavating of Millersburg.
Tiffany Swigert, executive director of the Coshocton Port Authority, said they wanted to bid the properties separate as they were spread throughout the county and some companies might not want to bid on all of them. She expects all work to be done by June 1.
Work is being done through a $500,000 grant from the Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program of the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). After demolition and remediation, properties would then be ready for sale for development of new housing or businesses.
Each county in Ohio is receiving $500,000. Swigert said it's possible they might be able to raze more structures with leftover funds and a wait list is being compiled.
Additionally, the land bank will receive reimbursement through the grant funding for a house razed and land remediated earlier this year at 1802 Chestnut St., formerly owned by the late Jim Hale. The blighted and vacant house was the site of the murder of Brianna Ratliff in April 2021.
At the recent meeting, the land bank also approved $300 to AloNovus Corporation for a legal ad and $46 to the Coshocton County Auditor's Office for deed preparation. The land bank currently has a bit more than $147,000 in its coffers. The board is considering filling a vacancy as well with Jeff Corder having left his position as property code inspector for the City of Coshocton to accept a new job.
The next land bank board meeting will be at 1 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Coshocton County 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 Twitter at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Land bank awards contracts to razed eight properties
