Highland County land bank board discusses grant projects, foreclosures at October meeting

This article has been corrected to amend the address of a parcel owned by the land bank (it is 11410 Cathy's Court) and to correct the acreage of a parcel on U.S. 62 (it is .2 acre, not .12 acre). The author regrets the errors.

Members of the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation met Thursday, Oct. 16 for the first time since August, as the board focused much of their meeting on discussions of state grants, as well as a variety of parcels that could be acquired by the land bank.

Land bank administrator Jason Johansen announced that all of the demolitions in the 2024-25 iteration of the Building Demolition & Site Revitalization Grant Program are complete, including the contractors’ work, payments and reimbursements, and reporting to the state, with $131,000 still available to use.

Johansen listed 15 properties that are “ready” for which the HCLRC could apply, which includes parcels in Liberty (eight), Fairfield (two), Paint (two), Marshall (one), Salem (one) and Whiteoak (one) townships. In addition, he announced that the Department of Development has released information on the new BDSR grant, which was funded in the state budget passed earlier this year.

“The guidelines for the 2026-27 fiscal year were released yesterday, and they're doing it a little bit different this time,” Johansen said. “Each county will have a set-aside amount of $230,000 per fiscal year, so $230,000 for ’26 and then $230,000 for ’27. The application for ’26 opens on the 29th, in two weeks, at 10 a.m. and the application is due November 19 by 5 p.m. That gives us three weeks.”

Johansen added that the project deadline for the first year will be July 1, 2026, after which the next round of funding will be released.

“The issue” for the HCLRC, Johansen said, is that the 15 properties they have listed will likely be covered under the remaining funds in the current grant, and they will have to come up with an application for another $230,000 worth of properties before their next regularly scheduled meeting. In order to do that, Johansen asked if the board would permit him to pursue additional avenues of marketing the grant opportunity to the community, as he tries to find additional land to clean up.

“The issue is the worst houses that really need it are deceased owners or caught up in other issues,” Johansen said. “I’m really going to need to hit it hard to try to get properties lined up for this new program.”

Board member David Daniels told Johansen to “do whatever you need to do” to find more properties.

In response to a question from Daniels, Johansen said they will also have to move their November meeting up a week or at least a few days in order to approve the new application, but board members told him to reschedule it as needed and notify them.  

For an update on projects funded through the Brownfield Remediation Program, Johansen said that the site of a former machine shop in Greenfield “needs additional assessment work” and is “not ready for cleanup yet.

“Oversight has been moved to Ohio EPA from BUSTR [Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations], because it's not just a gas station,” Johansen said. “It was a machine shop and has chlorinated solvents and a pretty messy site. TetraTech is working with the property owner to do work off site at nearby property owned by the property owner. We are not funding that. That's separate. 

“They're doing some vapor intrusion testing, possibly mitigation systems have to be put in. That’s not part of our grant work, so right now they're doing some offsite stuff, but that is going to need to have more assessment work done.”

As Johansen reported in August, additional work is also necessary at a former gas station in Hillsboro.

“There is petroleum in the soil and the groundwater,” Johansen said. “We need to get our arms around the contamination, similar with the machine shop. 

“We also did discussion options for that property owner, because we made him aware of possible upcoming match commitments, what we already had into the property, and he's doing some due diligence on his side.”

Due to the amount of work needed on the site, Johansen said they “did throw out the possibility of a donation of that property to the land bank” in their discussions with the property owner. 

“Obviously, I would bring that to the board before we would ever move forward with something like that, but it might be in his best interest to let go of the property,” Johansen said. “There's going to be a lot of cleanup to be done there. It’s a dirty site.”

Work continues at the site of the former Rocky Fork Truck Stop, which has been funded during the past two state brownfield grant cycles, as Johansen said they have finally gotten “access agreements from adjacent owners. 

“TetraTech has begun groundwater remediation through injection by bioremediation cocktail, and I was on site October 1 for the first round of injections,” Johansen said. “Now we wait 90 days. Samples will be taken, more injections will follow, and then there'll be additional soil removed from the northwest portion of the property.

“Matt [Wagner, environmental consultant from TetraTech] has said that is the dirtiest site he has probably ever been on. He's had to leave on occasions from headaches of how much contamination is at that site.”

For the next round of brownfield funding, Johansen has three properties listed as potential applicants: the former Bell’s Foundry/Emerson Electric in Hillsboro; a former gas station in Marshall Township; and a former gas station in Belfast. The HCLRC had submitted an application for Bell’s Foundry/Emerson Electric in February, through the 2025 Brownfield program. Johansen said that he was advised that the application was submitted too late, as he filed it 43 minutes after the portal opened and the state “didn’t have any more funds” at that point.

The Marshall Township gas station property is owned by the land bank and has had initial assessments done, Johansen said, but it will require “additional assessment work” that could be covered by the grant. Johansen told the board he is working with the owner of the Belfast property to determine options for possible grants.

As of Thursday’s meeting, the guidelines for the new round of brownfield funding had not been released, but the Department of Development has since come out with the latest guidance. The application window is Nov. 12-Dec. 5, according to the state.

Johansen said the land bank could also consider applying for a third grant opportunity, this one through the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission.

"They are doing a U.S. EPA community-wide assessment grant, and that is for just assessment work, not cleanup,” Johansen said. “There's no match requirement from the land bank or the owners, unless we want there to be. The applications are due in late November, so coming up, awards are expected in the spring, and then work would begin, if awarded, in fall of 2026.”

Johansen and members of the board also revisited ongoing discussions on “potential match requirements” for future grant-funded projects. At their July meeting, the board discussed whether they will want to include a provision for property owners to commit to pay a certain percentage of the demolition costs, while Daniels also spoke of the “tremendous amount of money” the land bank has put into privately owned land through the brownfield remediation grant.

In August, the board discussed various ideas, including a set “buy-in” amount, liens and/or percentage matches.

“I like the lien idea on the demolition side,” Johansen told the board Thursday. 

Daniels suggested they should “identify some formula” to use where they can “recoup our cost, or a maximum of 5x — five percent of what it cost us” to demolish the properties through the BDSR grant.

“I don't know that we need to decide that today, but I would like to explore that possibility and see if we can't come up with some kind of a formula for the next meeting,” Daniels said.

For the brownfield grant, however, Johansen said it “might be easier to just say 10 percent” across the board due to the higher, and less predictable, costs involved.

In other discussion:

• Johansen announced that the land bank officially owns the 1.5-acre lot at 11410 Cathy’s Court in Paint Township, following completion of an expedited foreclosure.

“The deed has been recorded,” Johansen said. “I have added that property to the list of demolitions.”

Since that foreclosure is successfully complete, Johansen asked the board for a recommendation on the next property to target. 

“Over a year ago, we had the board approve for three consecutive expedited foreclosures to be sent so that we didn't really have to talk about it,” Johansen said. “They can tell me they're done and I send them the new one. 

“In April, I went to a land bank conference, and in one of their sessions, they talked about not prioritizing vacant land, because the main goal of the land bank is to deal with blighted, dilapidated properties. The third of those that were on our list to be sent is 116 South Glenn Street here in the city of Hillsboro. That is a vacant lot. It is only .16 acres, which is almost a side lot, and it is maintained by the adjacent neighbors.”

Johansen added that the cost of foreclosure would be about equal to what the neighbor indicated he would be willing to pay for the property.

“My fear is that we're not going to be able to sell that property and make our money back from it,” Johansen said. “I’m not saying that vacant land doesn't need foreclosed on as well. I'm just saying that I think, with what our intentions are as a land bank is to clean up blighted properties, that that's vacant land and it's not really a blight.”

As a result, Johansen provided an updated list to the board to review. Daniels suggested a property on Pied Piper Parkway at Rocky Fork Lake, while Johansen referred to two different parcels at Rocky Fork Lake on different streets (Cinderella Drive and Highland Trail) but with the same owner. After discussion and debate of the merits of various properties over others, Daniels moved for the board to “authorize [Johansen] to move on whichever one of these properties that [he deems] appropriate and rank them” for priority order for foreclosure. That motion was passed by the board.

“I'm not going to dispute your word on what we can get money out of and what we can’t, what ought to be first and second,” Daniels said. “I think you've identified properties that could be valuable to us, so whenever we get around to the point where we're making the decision, just go ahead. That's my recommendation.”

• Johansen provided updates on several other properties on the land bank’s radar. One, which is located on Main Street in Highland, was discussed for the first time in over a year, as Johansen had told the board in April 2024 that the property had a $186,000 unreleased mortgage.

“After a little research, I found that they did foreclose on it, but two attempts to sell at auction were not successful, so the bank never put the property into their name,” Johansen said.

Johansen added that he reached out to the bank’s vice president, and at the vice president’s recommendation, Johansen is sending a letter “requesting the release of the mortgage,” signed by land bank board president Terry Britton, for the bank board to review. However, the vice president said that the bank typically seeks “some compensation for releasing that mortgage” from land banks, Johansen told the board.

“The land value is $10,300 on the auditor's website, and with a cleanup cost of roughly $9,000 to $10,000 on average, I figured that that a good starting point for to offer them would be $1,000,” Johansen said. “The owner did express that he would be willing to do whatever he needed, as he can't close out that LLC due to still having an asset, so before we would have that mortgage release, we would have him sign a quit claim deed.

“If they didn't accept that, then we could come back and maybe offer more, but I do think that that property would be worth something to us, and I think it would sell.”

Following that discussion, the board voted to authorize Johansen to move forward in his steps to acquire the property.

For an update on a .1653-acre property at 222 McClain Avenue in Greenfield, which was acquired by the land bank from Fannie Mae in 2024, Johansen said that since listing it at $20,000 this summer, they have received one offer.

“The guy didn't say whether he would want to pay the full 20 [thousand dollars], but he just asked if we would be willing to accept payments,” Johansen said. “I didn't know if that was something we would want to get into.”

Daniels said he didn’t want them to get in “the business of being a mortgage lender.

“I think I’d just as soon dispose of the property,” Daniels said.

Johansen continued that other similarly priced parcels in the area, listed by other sellers, have not sold either. Daniels asked for a recommended revised price, and Johansen suggested $15,000. Board member Lauren Walker asked if the village of Greenfield “would have any interest in purchasing” the property to resell, as Johansen said their Community Improvement Corporation is in the process of acquiring an adjacent vacant lot. Britton agreed that “it might sell easier” if the two small parcels were together.

“They might,” Johansen said. “We could still drop it to 15 [thousand dollars] and then see if they would be interested in it.”

Daniels then suggested that if the village doesn’t want to buy the property, they could still “ask them if they would like to list the two together,” and the land bank and Greenfield could each collect their respective payment. Britton said then both parties could “advertise it as one big lot,” assuming things are “legally clear” one Greenfield’s side.

“I can reach out to see if they want to link the properties,” Johansen said. “I will say there obviously is two water taps, two sewer hookups, so that might have some value.”

After comments by Britton and Walker regarding the potential pricing of such a package deal, Britton advised Johansen not to lower the cost until they determine Greenfield’s thoughts on the matter and their pricing point.

For 10635 North Shore Road, a property that was previously donated to the land bank, Johansen said that after several attempts, he has made contact with a partial owner of a trailer left on the property.

“He said he wants the property as is and would be willing to pay five to six grand at the most, and he would use his own funds to clean it up,” Johansen said. “When I mentioned the deed in escrow to hold on to the deed until we were satisfied with the cleanup, he said he would be fine with that. 

“The issue that we have is that the ex-wife said she will not release her interest in the mobile home to him. She will only release it if the land bank is going to acquire the mobile home, so he would be in the same predicament that we would be in.”

As a result, Johansen said the land bank will “probably have to take it through the court” to get the issues resolved, and it is “unlikely” they can get access to include the trailer in their next round of state demolition funding.

Johansen asked for input on 9955 U.S. 62 in Samantha, a piece of land that was donated to the land bank two years ago and cleaned up using grant funding. It is situated among three other parcels for which the land bank has “purchased tax liens and will soon own,” he said.

“Over a year ago, I did speak with the health department, because we were wanting to see if a septic system could be put in there,” Johansen said. “The health department did suggest that if we could acquire those three parcels or two structures next to us and make it all one, it would be over an acre, and then we might have the ability to get to some drainage for a septic system. There's three houses, and there is, we believe, a septic tank at the middle house. No one's lived there for 35 years. I don't think it's going to be in working order. It's probably going to need taken out.”

However, Johansen said “new owners” at an adjacent lot in the other direction have approached him with a $1,500 offer to purchase the cleaned-up property.

“We have almost $13,000 in the demolition and cleanup, so not quite where we would want to be on that price point,” Johansen said. “We determine a side lot is .15 acres, and this is only .2 acres. It's not a big lot.”

At this time, Johansen said he doesn’t recommend that we take that offer, but we could reevaluate” if and when they have the other neighboring lots acquired and have determined how to proceed with the properties. The board said they agreed with Johansen’s assessment.

As an update on two parcels in Leesburg that had nuisance complaints in Hillsboro Municipal Court, Johansen said he and the land bank’s legal counsel Todd Book are working with Leesburg’s new village solicitor, Hannah Bivens, to clear up “confusion” about whether the HCLRC will be the receiver of the properties, as had been previously discussed.

• It was announced that the Highland County Treasurer’s office has issued 30-day notices for property owners of seven parcels for which the HCLRC is attempting to purchase the tax liens.

“The owners will have until Oct. 31 to come in and make payment or set up a payment plan,” Johansen told The Highland County Press. “If they don't do so, the land bank is able to purchase that lien the very next day, and then we will go through the foreclosure process. There are four total foreclosures for the seven parcels.”     

The seven parcels include three on Taylor Street in Greenfield; one on Highland Hills Drive in Hillsboro (Rocky Fork Lake area); and three on U.S. 62 in Leesburg (Samantha area).

Assuming the land bank acquires some or all of the tax lien certificates, Walker asked if they could then “sign as the right to enter the property if we apply for demolition grants” through the state, as property owners are required to sign off on the demolition.

“I don't think we can,” Book said. “I think we actually have to be the owner of that property or have some kind of court order. I guess we could petition the court, but I don't think the court would give that until we become the owner of it.

“We have the right to collect money from those folks are not paying their taxes. We don’t own the property, and we're not responsible for what happens on the property at any time, either.”

• Book discussed the ongoing state property tax reform efforts and the implications on the land bank if property taxes are eventually abolished as petitioners are proposing.

“One of the main sources of our funding is the DTAC [Delinquent Tax & Assessment Collection] funds, and if there's no longer property taxes, then there are no longer DTAC funds,” Book said.

Daniels pointed out that this is yet another reason to determine “how we're feeding the beast here” if they want to maintain the land bank.

“We've got to find some way to continue, even if it's small amounts of money on properties that were taken over, that we're cleaning up, that we're demoing — we’ve got to have some way to keep a little bit of money coming back in,” Daniels said. “If we take some of these properties that we're doing these demos on, rather than asking for upfront money, just put a lien on and say, ‘if you ever sell, we're going to recoup some of the money that we've got.’”

• The board voted to issue a $500 request for payment from Reed Mechanical Construction as a mutual release from a breach of contract on the demolition of properties in the Leesburg area.

• The board approved the financial reports for both August and September as presented. The land bank began August with a cash balance of $278,741.43 and ended September with $284,556.77. Of note in those reports, the month of August saw the HCLRC receive over $250,000 in reimbursements from the state through the Brownfield Remediation program, which were then paid out to contractors.

In a separate motion, the board also approved the payment of bills totaling $162,806.87, as those bills include ones for legal fees, rent, work by various and contractors and for Johansen’s salary and expenses.

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