MANSFIELD — Rising costs to finish the demolition and cleanup of former Westinghouse properties in Mansfield will delay similar work planned for what has been described as the “biggest eyesore in Shelby.”
Those increased costs — coupled with the Ohio Department of Development’s rules on how additional funds for ongoing projects can be obtained — had the Richland County Land Bank board scrambling for options on Wednesday afternoon.
Ultimately, the board voted to use the guaranteed $1 million available in 2024 state brownfield funds to continue the work that began in December 2022 on the former “A” building at 200 E. Fifth Street. and the adjoining 13-acre “concrete parcel.”
The project, originally estimated at $4 million, will now cost an projected $6.3 million as the contractor, R&D Excavation of Crestline, continues to encounter unexpected finds deep beneath the surface of the former factory site, according to Land Bank Executive Director Amy Hamrick.
“I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams would have (imagined finding) what we did at Westinghouse,” said Land Bank board member Andy McGinty, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Richland County Treasurer Bart Hamilton.
The board’s decision will delay the demolition and cleanup of a site at the corner of Broadway and Main streets in downtown Shelby, through a public/private partnership with Troy Baker, a financial adviser associated with the Edward Jones Co.
The Shelby brownfield project, with an estimated cost of $697,000, was first discussed during a Land Bank meeting in October 2021.
Hamrick said the board had asked the state if projects previously funded, but not completed, were eligible for additional funding.
She said ODOD told her that previously funded remediation projects that require additional funds to complete the remediation work are only eligible through their county’s $1 million set-aside.
Land Bank board member Joe Gies, the project manager for the City of Shelby, was on vacation and didn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting.
In the past, Gies has said the project at Broadway and Main would aid in the ongoing revitalization of the city’s downtown, including the nearby Black Fork Commons.
Jessica Gribben, economic development manager to the City of Shelby and northern Richland County for the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development, expressed frustration Wednesday with the way the Ohio Department of Development has handled the funding process.
“The whole situation is incredibly frustrating. It’s been going on since 2021 when we applied and it’s just not worked out and the building has started to deteriorate,” Gribben said.
“I know there are holes in the roof,” she said.
“The state, the way they are hamstringing the dollars, it’s just not comfortable,” Gribben said.
The Land Bank will reapply for funds for the Shelby project, though it appears any future ODOD grants will require local matching funds.
With Broadway and Main, that would mean about $164,000 will need to be found among the City of Shelby and the Land Bank and perhaps other sources.
“It seems like we as a community should be able to figure out how to get $164,000 to get a prime piece of real estate back to potential development in Shelby, I would think,” said Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero, a Land Bank board member.
Hamrick showed board members recent photos from the Westinghouse site, showing two deep water pits, fresh large concrete blocks that have been unearthed and pieces of metal left from the former Baxter Stove Co., which occupied part of the site before Westinghouse opened a century ago.
She also said there were about two acres of land still covered in concrete that must be removed before additional environmental testing can be done.
The water pits, created by storm water that flows east through the site, may require a new storm water sewer system through the area, which has added about $400,000 to $500,000 to the projected cost of the project.
Land Bank board Vice Chair Jeff Parton said the work at Westinghouse has to continue, given the board’s choices.
“I really want to see this Broadway and Main project come through and I don’t think we should quit trying, but we cannot stop Westinghouse,” he said.
“We are literally in the bowels of Westinghouse,” Parton said.
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry, a Land Bank board member, agreed.
“Once you start it, what’s the point of not finishing it?” she asked.
