Failing that, the land bank plans to step up production using $300,000 of the money it receives in delinquent tax and assessment collection funds (DTAC). They can address about 20 eyesores with that investment.
Development Director David Fehr told the Journal-News they are not asking the commissioners to increase the percentage of DTAC.
“The reason for the ask for the larger amount was to help start putting a dent in at least $13 million worth of identifiable future projects...,” Fehr said. “At least at this point the commissioners have said because that impacts the schools it has not been proposed we use additional DTAC, it would have to be some other funding source.”
The land bank was born in 2012 in response to a 500% leap from about 500 to 3,000 foreclosures between 1999 and 2010. There was also state money available the cities of Hamilton and Middletown wanted to tap into. In the beginning only the two largest cities were members of the land bank because they ponied up $1.1 million each in order to collect state Moving Ohio Forward monies.
Now the county has been guaranteed $1 million for brownfield remediation and $500,000 in demolition money under a new state program, and potentially access to much more.
County Treasurer Nancy Nix, who chairs the land bank, said additional county funding will ensure the land bank can continue its work, with or without outside funding.
“We’ve been in operation for 10 years and heavily dependent on state and federal grants, now we have another smaller grant, the brownfield and ODOD $1.5 million, but that’s eaten up so quickly,” Nix said. “So are we going to be an ongoing concern, are we going to combat blight or are we just going to kind of limp along. It’s really a commissioner decision.”
Over the past decade the land bank used $2.6 million in state funding downing nearly 600 bad buildings. Then beginning in 2014 they received $5 million in federal Hardest Hit Funds for the Neighborhood Initiative Program and toppled 409 in the two big cities and a few in Fairfield Twp.
The land bank board won’t officially ask the commissioners for money until it votes on the strategic plan in November. Commissioner Don Dixon told the Journal-News he believes “the board is receptive to making an annual contribution” but isn’t sure it will reach $1 million.
“We need to sit down and have a meeting with the cities and come up with a plan because they’re our biggest users and see what projects are on the board,” Dixon said. “If there’s something there that would generate economic development and jobs we’d certainly look at that a lot more favorably. It would be an economic development contribution instead of a tearing down a house contribution.”
The bulk of the $13.6 million strategic plan would be spent remediating 11 brownfield properties at an estimated cost of $11.9 million, which is the removal of hazardous materials left when industrial, or even commercial such as dry cleaners blight is downed. They include two projects the city of Middletown summitted to the commissioners for American Rescue Plan Act funding, namely $1.6 million to acquire, demolish and complete remediation of the 24-acre former AK Steel headquarters and research site and $1.57 million for the old 19-acre CETA site.
The commissioners already agreed to fund part of Middletown’s request for ARPA funds, they approved $3 million to clean up the Middletown Paperboard site after fire ravaged the vacant building two years ago.
Hamilton is seeking $5.4 million total to remediate the parking lot that is at the opposite corner from the Government Services Center, the Mohawk/Beckett Paper and Cohen Recycling sites. There are other relatively smaller requests.
The remaining $1.7 million in the plan is to demolish 29 houses and 10 commercial buildings. Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said she will consider funding but wants strategic demolition.
“I’m going to have to look at the plan and look at what the proposed goals are,” she said. “I’m a life long resident of Butler County and I’m very familiar with our communities and individual neighborhoods, so I’ll have to decide if I think there are worthy proposals. I’m not for just tearing down houses here, there and everywhere.”
The land bank has done several studies to gauge their success. The total value of the targeted neighborhoods in Hamilton for 2014 was $526 million and $667 million in 2020, a 27% increase. The impact in Middletown was even higher, it went from $81.8 million to $120.6 million, a 47% increase.
Since vacant structures are “magnets” for trouble they also looked into emergency responder numbers and found Middletown police calls dropped 44% from 2016 to 2020, overdose runs decreased 51% and fire calls were down 6%. In Hamilton over the same time period vacant house fires dropped 62%.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers told the Journal-News he is willing to consider the $5 million request.
“After we go over the financial benefits I think the math will provide us with the right answer,” Rogers said.
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