ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners opened two construction bids Thursday that put the four-year project closer to the finish line.
Construction firms Adena and Sarver Paving bid the project, which involves installing more lighting, repaving the parking lot and finishing the sidewalk.
Richland Engineering Services, the firm hired in June 2022 to design the third phase, estimated the cost of this phase to be $465,000. Adena’s bid came just north of $511,000 and Sarver Paving came in right around $408,000.
Commissioner Jim Justice said the project will be paid for through the use of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act allocations, state grants and capital funds.
Patrick Schwan said Thursday he’s excited to get moving on finishing the project; officials hope everything wraps up by spring or summer.
Dennis Harris, the county’s maintenance superintendent, said Thursday the park grew out of an extension of the county’s love for what’s happening in downtown Ashland.
“It’s going to look so good when we get done,” he said.
Planning for the park began in 2019, but was put on hold through the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the project began in late 2021, when the county spent $57,628 on materials needed to build a sidewalk, curbs and lighting. Most of that money, $48,000, came from an Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant and local donations.
The project was then put on hold again as the county figured out a way to acquire a vacant house on the corner of West Main and Broad streets, a house owned by Commissioner Denny Bittle.
Commissioners said engineering firms could not plan for the project because it needed access to the property. Bittle ended up selling the house to the Ashland County Land Reutilization Corporation, also known as the Ashland land bank, for $46,000, the price he paid for it.
Ashland County officials criticized that transaction as “problematic” and a potential “ethical violation” because of the means by which the land bank voted to acquire the property.
Nevertheless, the vacant house was demolished for $16,367, using land bank funding. The county finally gained access to the property in August 2022, when the county authorized a quit-claim deed for the property.
The project is now in its third phase, the first two being the installation of some sidewalk, public chess tables and landscaping.
Justice hopes the project wraps by spring, but that will depend on weather and the construction company’s schedule.
