Buckeye Hills: $500,000 grant secured to demolish Murray City School; county, consultants to inventory brownfields and finish active-transportation plan

Buckeye Hills officials told the Hocking County Board of Commissioners on April 10 that an Ohio Department of Development grant of $500,000 has been awarded to pay for demolition of the former Murray City School. Kate Dunn, senior planner with Buckeye Hills, said the agency will advertise for an engineer to supervise the project and expects demolition “maybe this summer, maybe early fall.”

The update came as Buckeye Hills described a broader offer to help Hocking County identify and remediate brownfield parcels. Commissioners raised the Logan Clay site as an example; a county official said two parcels there are publicly owned and estimated “like 3 and a half acres total,” adding, “I’m not sure. Don’t quote me on that.” Buckeye Hills staff offered to help assemble parcel numbers and create an inventory of publicly and privately owned brownfield sites.

Why it matters: the demolition grant and a countywide brownfields inventory are steps toward making idle or contaminated properties available for redevelopment, and the county will rely on Buckeye Hills to manage grant reporting and procurement for the demolition project.

Buckeye Hills said it will submit a request for qualifications for an engineer within a week or two and will advertise bidding opportunities in local media. Dunn said Buckeye Hills, as the grant administrator, will handle the funds and reporting so “you guys won’t have to deal with any of the money coming down, the reporting, anything like that.” Commissioners sought confirmation that the county would not be liable on the contract; Buckeye Hills staff said the grant funds are coming to Buckeye Hills and the county is not a party to the demolition contract.

On the brownfields topic, commissioners described public interest in the Logan Clay property and in having a complete inventory of potential trouble or opportunity sites. Buckeye Hills said it can help the county assemble parcel numbers, assess reclamation needs and pursue available funding to create an inventory and pursue remediation projects.

In the same appointment, Buckeye Hills gave an update on the Hocking County active‑transportation master plan, a countywide effort to identify safety and connectivity projects for walking, biking and related infrastructure. A Buckeye Hills transportation planner said the team has identified crash clusters and corridor priorities, and that the plan will include corridor‑based recommendations intended to make projects competitive for state or federal funding. The presenter said the plan has had multiple stakeholder meetings and two public meetings remain; the document is scheduled to wrap in June.

The presenter distinguished the countywide active‑transportation plan from an ODOT‑funded Hocking Valley Scenic Trail effort, saying the trail project is a separate, more narrowly focused trail initiative that received an ODOT award of $2.5 million. Buckeye Hills staff said the two efforts coordinate to avoid duplication and to identify potential tie‑ins but are separate projects with different scopes.

Commissioners and staff asked Buckeye Hills to follow up with parcel details for the Logan Clay site and to circulate schedule and procurement notices as the Murray City School demolition proceeds.

Ending: Buckeye Hills said it will circulate RFQ and bidding information to interested contractors and provide periodic status reports to the commissioners; county staff agreed to share parcel records and contacts so Buckeye Hills can begin the brownfields inventory work.