ASHLAND — The city of Ashland’s timing in the purchase of a property is holding up the building of Ashland Public Transit’s new headquarters downtown.
That scenario could mean searching for another property to house the planned construction of the 14,000 square-foot building.
In December 2021, Ashland City Council unanimously approved the $150,000 purchase of vacant land at the intersection of Third and Union streets downtown.
Nearly a year later, in September 2022, the city announced it had received word from the Ohio Department of Transportation that $1.32 million had been earmarked for the project. At the time, city officials were under the impression that the $150,000 purchase price of the project’s property could be added to the grant’s required 20% match.
The city’s match is $330,000.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller isn’t so sure anymore that the property’s value can be added to the required match.
“According to the Federal Transit Administration people, they do not usually allow a city to buy the property before certain things happen,” Miller said.
In early February, the Federal Transit Administration — the agency in charge of administering the grant funding — expressed concern in the city’s purchase of the property before a federally mandated environmental clearance, known as the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, process.
“FTA has done a preliminary review of all of ODOT’s facility projects and has identified potential concerns regarding your … project. FTA’s concerns revolved around purchasing property prior to starting the NEPA process,” wrote Chuck Dyer, administrator of ODOT’s Office of Transit, in an email sent to Ashland Mayor Matt Miller and Liz McClurg, the city’s transit coordinator.
Miller, McClurg, Dyer and others met on February 24 to discuss the concerns. Miller said the meeting went well, but that the city will work to provide more information to FTA about the property.
“(FTA is) requesting additional information and clarification regarding our site. The concern was that the site was purchased. They want to make sure we were building a transit,” Miller said.
So, at this point, the project is in flux.
“They could either tell us the site is adequate or tell us to find another site,” Miller said.
McClurg, the city’s transit coordinator, is confident even if the FTA’s concern leads to coming up with another way to fund the local match.
“We have carryover available in our budget,” she said. “We’ll be able to meet that local match either way. This is just part of the process when dealing with federal grants and the EPA — you know, just staying in compliance with everybody.”
