The Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation, also known as the land bank, met Thursday morning and detailed multiple properties that could be used for a grant coming to the county.
The land bank discussed the demolition and revitalization grant and said the following Hillsboro properties have already signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that would give the land bank access to the property: 314 John St., 775 N. West St., 127 Josie St., 331 Wellston St., 315 Wellston St., 622 S. East St., 454 E. Walnut St., 324 Johnson St., 416 Danville Pike, 123 Hill St., 529 E. Walnut St., 508 N. West St., a S.R. 73 barn, 360 Johnson St., 453 E. Main St., 533 E. Walnut St. and 229 E. South St.
The following Mowrystown properties have also signed MOUs: 23 N. High St., 29 Maple St., 36 Maple St. and 81 Main St.
Mark Current, Highland County Community Action Organization (HCCAO) housing director, said there were six Lynchburg properties and three properties in the Rocky Fork Lake area that the land bank was still waiting on MOUs for.
Current said the demolition and revitalization grant properties must have their applications completed by 5 p.m. on Feb. 28, and that he was working to get as many done as possible.
He also said that a sub-recipient agreement had to be signed between the land bank and the town where each property was located, where they would both agree on the demolition and revitalization for that specific property. The land bank agreed to do this agreement where they would do a separate one for each property instead of doing one for all of the properties in one agreement, in case one fell through and put the agreement in jeopardy.
In other news, the land bank had a couple of its brownfield grant projects back out. Current said the three brownfield grant projects that are still ongoing are at the former Rocky Fork Lake Truck Stop, an East Monroe mill and the Elliott Hotel in Greenfield. He said the applications for those projects were submitted for pre-cleanup and that the actual cleanup would be applied for at the end of April.”
“It’ll be close,” Matt Wagner, a certified professional from Tetra Tech, said. “We’ll have to see where the numbers come in, especially for Rocky Fork. The mill and the hotel seem to be pretty innocuous, so I think those should be simple demo projects. We’ll have to worry about the street, I think, for the hotel and the adjacent property. Again, I think, that should fall well under budget for those.”
In other news, the land bank went into an executive session, then decided to not renew its contract with the HCCAO.
“We want to thank HCCAO for all the work that they have done in the past years,” Terry Britton, a county commissioner who serves on the land bank board, said. “With this move, it would go to the economic development side of business under Julie Bolender. There will be approximately a two-month transition period on this move.”
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
