ASHLAND – In a two hour meeting Friday, the Ashland County Land Reutilization Corporation board voted to amend its policy for disposing of land.
The board approved its original disposition guidelines last November but has not yet disposed of a property. Now that land bank leaders are preparing to sell the land bank’s first properties, the board revisited its rules.
Once the land bank no longer wants a piece of land, board members decided, the property will first be offered to local governments.
If no government entity wants a property, the property will then be put up for bids at public auction.
If the land bank received a grant from the Neighborhood Initiative Program to work on the property, bidding must begin at fair market value, per NIP rules. Bidding on non-NIP sites will begin at the cost that land bank put in to the project.
If a property does not sell for at least the minimum bid at auction, owners of adjacent properties will be offered the opportunity to purchase the property as a side lot for $100.
While the board previously planned to offer properties to non-profits before for-profit companies and to for-profit companies before private individuals, board members decided Friday they would rather put all potential buyers on a level playing field.
Board members expressed a desire to avoid subjectivity and favoritism by allowing properties to go to the highest bidder.
The board also moved to adopt a bidding process that mirrors the Ohio Revised Code’s process regarding advertising for the sale of property.
