Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
A committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 17 advanced 22 items to next week’s city council agenda, highlighted by a demolition project from the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society.
City administrator Joel Mazur discussed a pair of grants from the Lucas County Land Bank, which are related to projects with the Buffalo Rock Brewing Company and the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society.
The first one with the brewing company has already been completed, which included removing asbestos and taking care of underground storage tank issues, among other smaller items, during the overhaul of that site.
The second grant, which is a reimbursement grant and requires the work to be done and the invoice to be paid prior to the money getting paid out, involves the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society demolishing the church portion of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, which is located at 1121 Grasser St., next door to the society.
Members of the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society were previously approached by the owners of the church, which celebrated its 150th anniversary on Sept. 15, 2013 after opening on April 25, 1863, about purchasing the site. The church portion was in severe disrepair with a lot of deferred maintenance, and a renovation wasn’t feasible, Mazur said.
The annexed portion, or the L shaped building off the back of the church, will remain and be used for expansion and growth of the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society. That will include office space, display space and preservation areas for historical items, as well as event and programming space.
Mazur said that the society does more than just preserve items for our community’s history, including educational events, tours and day camps among others things.
Work is expected to be quick, which also includes some utility work. The total cost is estimated to be around $150,000, but there’s a chance it could come in under budget.
The Land Bank’s grant program is specifically for demolishing buildings and environmental cleanup programs, and the direct recipient will be the historical society.
With the society’s limited resources, the city has agreed to step in, pay the invoices and then the reimbursement would come back to the city in approximately six to eight weeks.
Michelle Quilter, the president of the Oregon-Jerusalem Historical Society, was present at the meeting, along with a few others from the society including: vice president Linda Rossler, who also serves as the lead on demolition and the project manager; chair of buildings and grounds Rob Gearhart, who works alongside Rossler; and internal auditor Sue Hopkins, who is handling all the paperwork for the project.
Quilter said the city has been “a wonderful partner to us for many, many years,” and that the demolition must be done by June 30 of this year.
Councilman Steven R. Salander questioned if there was any risk of grant funds being pulled due to the auditing going on at the federal government level, and Mazur said he’s “confident there’s no risk” since the grant originated at the state level.
Pickle Road weight limit
Another agenda item discussed was about establishing a 6,000 pound weight limit on Pickle Road between Woodville and Wheeling.
It was said that the road itself is deteriorating at a much faster rate compared to other roads that see trucks, and the potholing isn’t just your normal potholing. They’re very deep, and it’s an old concrete road.
A plan to replace the road down the line will have to be discussed at some point, but a weight restriction is needed until then.
The belief is that the true cause of the deterioration is the tankers that come from the Toledo Refining Company and go to and from Wheeling to Woodville, and the plan is to weed them out through enforcement of the weight limit.
Dispensary moratorium
An item creating a nine-month moratorium on marijuana dispensaries due to the unknowns about Senate Bill 56 also advanced to next week’s agenda. Doing so would allow the city to wait and see what happens with the bill and give council a chance to reconsider what was passed for dispensaries last year.
Other items and discussion focused on annual contracts, the design of a bike path, a potential plan to limit grass to eight inches, roundabout projects on Wynn Road and making sure pool owners have appropriate fences put up.
