City will help pay for Swale Park property

FINDLAY — Findlay City Council voted 8-2 Tuesday to contribute $40,000 to the purchase of flood mitigation property in Swale Park, despite ongoing concerns about the environmental conditions of the property. Mayor Christina Muryn said the city isn't taking ownership of the property. Work to complete the initial leg of benching in the Blanchard River, including any environmental cleanup, will continue to be the responsibility of the Hancock County Board of Commissioners, she said. Council members Holly Frische, R-1, and Jim Niemeyer, R-6, voted against the ordinance. The city was asked to contribute $40,000 towards the $69,000 settlement for the purchase of .487 acres on Howard Street. The property is owned by Performance R&D, LLC., with a business address of 750 Bolton St. The commissioners will pay the balance of $29,000. Ownership of the parcel will allow for the relocation of a bike path that makes a swing past Findlay's Swale Park, 215 Defiance Ave., and parallels the Blanchard River on its way to Broad Avenue. A large section of the path, beginning at Bolton Street, is now missing, excavated as part of the river benching project. The bike path runs along a converted railbed. Legislation for the land purchase was introduced to Findlay Council at its regular meeting on March 20. Findlay City Council voted April 16 to table legislation to review the environmental reports. On Tuesday, Muryn said the lot has never been tested for contamination, but surrounding lots have been. Environmental reports delivered to city officials on April 26 by Steve Wilson showed two neighboring testing pits found arsenic concentration to depths of 10 to 12 feet and 16 to 18 feet. Benching removed the soil at the 10- to 12-feet depth and the finished elevation is about three to five feet higher than the deepest testing pit. Wilson is the flood mitigation project manager for both the Hancock County commissioners and the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District, Defiance. Reports made to Stantec, the project engineer, in 2017 made no recommendation for additional testing in the vicinity of the property, Wilson said. On Tuesday, Auditor Jim Staschiak again cautioned council against taking ownership of the riverfront property without knowing the environmental conditions. Council has agreed to hire an environmental expert to represent the city's interest in the land transfer, once the benching is complete. On Tuesday, Staschiak pressed city administrators to move forward with hiring the environmental expert. In 2023, an environmental review of the riverfront property by Civil Environmental Consultants, Inc., Pittsburgh, showed contamination present throughout the property. The study gauged the findings against safety standards set by the Ohio Voluntary Action Program for "high-frequency child exposure," due to the proposed future use of the site as a park. The city hired the company to conduct an independent review of the conditions. Early environmental reports show concerns with the property include "abandoned/orphaned tanks, drums and household hazardous waste associated with debris from the flood of August 2007." There is also potential for contamination from businesses once located in the benching area, including a dry cleaner, junkyard, gas station, and machine shop. The $6.1 million flood mitigation project widened the river by cutting "benches" into the north riverbank for about 3,500 feet between the Norfolk Southern Railroad bridge and Broad Avenue. The benches are meant to increase the river's capacity during floods. In May 2021, the commissioners filed an eminent domain action with the Hancock County Common Pleas Court, asking the court to force the sale of about 1.3 acres of the 2.9-acre parcel on Howard Street. The eminent domain action marks the first filed in Hancock County due to flood mitigation. The authority of eminent domain allows government entities to seize private property for public use, but requires that fair market value be paid for the property. The commissioners offered Performance R&D $6,000 for the property based on an appraisal, ordered by their office, that set the amount as fair market value for 1.3 acres. In 2021, the Hancock County Auditor's Office set the value of the entire 2.9-acre parcel at $18,120. Property already owned by the city and the county flanks the Performance R&D lot both up and down the river.