By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
A land swap is in the works between the City of Bowling Green and Wood County Developmental Disabilities.
The city’s Board of Public Utilities agreed Monday evening to the exchange – trading with Wood Lane a lot that the city no longer needs, and getting a property that the city could use and Wood Lane no longer desires to own.
The trade involves the house at 316 N. Church St., and a vacant lot at 1236 Conneaut Ave. Wood Lane currently owns the house located just to the north of the city administration building on North Church Street. The city currently owns the vacant lot on the north side of Conneaut, east of Wintergarden Road.
The land swap would be mutually beneficial to both parties, according to Brian O’Connell, public utilities director for the city.
Wood Lane Superintendent Brent Baer approached the city about the possibility of selling the residential facility to Bowling Green. The house has been appraised at $175,000.
The parcel is attractive to city officials, since the municipal offices are suffering from a lack of space in the current building next door at 304 N. Church St. Bowling Green officials have already talked about using the city-owned space to the east of the municipal building once the Wood County Senior Center moves to its new building on South Grove Street.
If a new city building is constructed along North Main Street, the Wood Lane parcel would likely provide additional parking space. Also, the lot could provide flexibility for the new building design.
According to the board of public utilities, the Wood Lane lot would increase the available building area to 1.85 acres – which is a 12 percent increase in space.
Until a decision is made on the construction of a new city building, the house could be rented out to provide revenue for the city. O’Connell estimated it could generate about $1,000 a month.
Now for the other property on Conneaut Avenue. The city purchased the vacant lot at 1236 Conneaut Ave. in 2011, using the water and sewer capital improvement fund, with the plan of building a pump station on the lot.
But a few years later, a parcel further west at 1353 Conneaut Ave. became available for purchase, which lowered the construction cost of the pump station. So, the parcel at 1236 Conneaut was no longer needed by the city.
However, Baer is interested in acquiring the parcel for the construction of a residential home for Wood Lane consumers. The parcel was appraised at $39,000.
The board of public utilities plans to share the purchase price of the North Church Street house with the city.
The two-story house on North Church Street lacks accessibility, Baer said. A house built on Conneaut Avenue will be one-story, have four bedrooms, large bathrooms, and kitchen counters built for accessibility by people using wheelchairs.
Wood Lane has been offered $326,000 to use toward construction of the house by the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Community Capital Assistance program, Baer said.
