The purchased land is bordered roughly by Eldean Road to the north, the railroad tracks to the west, the county transfer station to the south, and the Old County 25A / junkyard driveway to the east. It does not include the land or homes just east of there along new County Road 25A.
The majority of the funding for the $1.79 million purchase came from the county’s allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, money and the county general fund, said Kelly Fackel, county director of development.
The purchase was made to accommodate potential future expansion of the Miami County Transfer Station and recycling operations located on county-owned land nearby. The purchase also will enable environmental remediation of the property as well as “significantly improve” the appearance of the area of the intersection, the land bank board said in a statement.
The previous landowner has a 12-month lease and will be liquidating the inventory during that time, Fackel said. The land bank will seek remediation funding from the state, with clean-up to follow over the next 12 to 18 months, she said.
The county land bank is a nonprofit entity created by the county government to pursue revitalization and rehabilitation of properties. A land bank provides counties with development advantages such the ability to hold properties in tax-exempt status while they are under development and immunity from environmental issues while under land bank ownership.
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