Carroll School: Demolition project could start this summer

The Ottawa County Planning Commission may be able to proceed as early as this summer with a demolition/remediation project of the former Carroll Elementary School building after being awarded a state grant.
Mark Messa, director of the plan commission, said last week his office has been informed its application for a Brownfield Remediation Grant was approved.
The $500,000 grant should be sufficient to cover the costs of demolishing the school building and remediation of the soil on the property, Messa said, adding the application was submitted last January and included an itemized budget of anticipated expenses of the project.
“We’ll know more when we find out how much soil has to actually be removed. We would like to get going on this and go out for bids before the end of summer,” he said.
His office has been working with the consulting firm, SME, Cleveland, on the project. The school property had already qualified for an assessment by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which was completed prior to Carroll Township purchasing it.
During their June 28 meeting, the Ottawa County commissioners approved a motion calling for the county auditor to establish a Brownfield Remediation Grant Fund to officially accommodate receipt of the grant money.
In 2013, the Benton-Carroll-Salem school board approved the sale of the building to Carroll Township for $15,500.
The school board had opted to close the building along with Graytown Elementary School in 2011 after voters turned down an additional millage levy request that, in turn, set in motion the consolidation of the district’s schools.
The Carroll Elementary building covers 24,000 square feet and housed pre-kindergarten through fifth grade classes.
Jim Meek, a Carroll Township trustee, said last week the township doesn’t have any immediate plans for the site once the building is torn down other than to leave it as a green space.
“There have been a lot of ideas, including a better baseball diamond than the one we have now or maybe a soccer field. Something the whole community can use,” he said.
He said the township had used offices in the building for the police department and leased a space for use as a pre-school.
But it wasn’t feasible to continue using a part of the building with the boiler-style heating system designed only to heat the entire building, Meek said.
He acknowledged there will be mixed feelings among township residents – many who attended the school – when the building is razed.
The Brownfield fund program is administered by the Ohio Department of Development.