ASHLAND — Ashland lawmakers took action Tuesday night to prepare for future land-development projects.
Ashland City Council unanimously approved the establishment of a capital-projects fund — referred to as the Land Development Improvement Fund 450 — for the “express purpose of acquiring and developing real property.”
Mayor Matt Miller said the measure was brought to council by Larry Paxton, the city’s finance director.
“The finance director would like us to establish a specific line-item where we can track the money that we set aside for land purchase or the development of land that we own or purchase in the future,” the mayor said.
Last year at the end of the calendar year, Miller said the state legislature enacted legislation that made approximately $100 million available for communities — like Ashland — to access for “activities that would lead to the development of housing.”
The Residential Development Revolving Loan Fund Program was created in the state’s most recent biennium budget with support from the Ohio General Assembly.
Applicant criteria for RDRLF Program
Eligible applicants include counties, municipal corporations and townships located in counties with populations under 75,000 — as determined by the most recent U.S. decennial census — and where the number of privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in the previous calendar year falls below the statewide county average for the same period, according to ODOD.
Applications for the program opened Dec. 29, 2025, and will be reviewed on a rolling basis as long as funding remains available.
According to the Ohio Department of Development, the program will make approximately $100 million in loans available to help communities fund “critical infrastructure needed to support the construction of new single-family homes.”
The program is designed to provide low-interest loans to cover up to 50 percent of eligible infrastructure development, repair or upgrade costs, with support of up to $30,000 per single-family home included in the project served by the new or improved infrastructure, according to ODOD.
Eligible uses for the loan funding include the development, repair or upgrade of water, sewer, transportation, electric or gas infrastructure necessary for the construction of new single-family homes, according to ODOD.
Miller said there isn’t a specific city project finalized at the moment related to accessing these funds. But the capital projects fund established Tuesday is a start.
“He (Paxton) believes that this is the first step, setting up a fund, so that we can easily track that money when we go after a project or decide to move forward with some piece of infrastructure installation that might relate to a property we (the city) own,” Miller said.
