The trustees have been working on a development plan for downtown, and Trustee Ellen Yordy said UDF will be an “excellent” anchor on the area’s southern edge.
“We’re really pleased with how it all worked out and we’re really pleased with UDF coming in to Ross Twp.,” she said. “I think it’ll bring other businesses into Ross.”
The township unveiled their Venice Downtown Redevelopment plan, a blueprint for future development, in February. The plan envisions the houses eventually being redeveloped into offices for professionals such as lawyers and accountants. They want retail shops, restaurants and possibly some park/recreation area.
Township Administrator Bob Bass said trustees want the area to be walkable, and UDF fits in with that plan.
“It’s a combination of an old downtown feel as well as a neighborhood type of downtown, we’re anticipating a lot of local traffic and pedestrian traffic and that sort of thing…,” he said. “A lot of people associate UDFs with local neighborhoods.”
Bass said they were originally in negotiations with a developer representing a pharmacy but “that didn’t pan out.”
The township bought the parcel where the former restaurant stood for $165,000 in January of 2015 for two reasons. The landmark at the intersection of Cincinnati Brookville and Hamilton Cleves roads — built as an inn in 1840 may have been a stagecoach stop — had turned into an eyesore.
The township was able to raze the building a year ago with the help of county Community Development Block Grant funds. The county and township split the $15,887 cost.
At that time Bass said they were planning to build a new administration building to house administration and the police department. The .825 acre lot wasn’t large enough to hold the fire department as well, so when the Tragesser Ford building came on the market they bought it for $695,000, so they can eventually have all township departments under one roof.
Yordy said when all is said and done — they had to buy two smaller adjacent parcels so UDF has clearance for right and left turn access — they should clear $200,000 on the sale. She said that money can offset some of the Tragesser purchase.
That profit is part of the reason Commissioner Don Dixon balked when the township came to the land bank looking for $10,000 to tear down the house on one of the smaller parcels.
“We’re putting money in there from the delinquent tax fund and we need to stretch that as far as we can,” Dixon said at the time. “Some cases where the entities don’t have the money, really, really don’t have the money, then I understand how that works, and we’ll step in and help. But if you are going to take a piece of property down and re-market it for a profit and you want the land bank to help, then I think the land bank should be reimbursed.”
The township spent a total of $193,893 to buy the Castle property, clear it and fill in the flood plain. UDF is going to foot the for the estimated $18,000 cost to tear down house.
Yordy said the UDF is a good start to their long range plan.
“We’re looking for some smart growth coming into Ross,” she said. “The thing of it is, UDF will be a tax base for us, it’s just not houses coming into Ross. That’ll help people with taxes and the schools and everything like that. So it’s all the big picture that this means.”
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