Paulding County Economic Development Press Release July 9, 2025
PAULDING – The Paulding County Land Bank committee was updated on a plethora of projects taking place around the county this week, many of which are nearing completion.
Abby White, representing Maumee Valley Planning Organization (MVPO), began by sharing that the remediation of the Land Bank-owned Paulding trailer court, located at 802 North Main Street, has been completed. Dangler Excavating, of Paulding, has removed the dilapidated trailers, cement pads, and streets associated with the property and backfilled the open lot with topsoil. With the project complete, the Land Bank will move forward and sell the property to the neighboring property owners, the Paulding Exempted Village School.
Dangler Excavating moved their equipment south to 119 South Main Street in Paulding. This demolition is the former Caring & Sharing food pantry building, owned by the Paulding County Carnegie Library. The future plan is to build a new community center on the open lot.
The next completed project is the former church building located at 201 North Williams Street in Paulding. The building was removed by Advance Demolition, McComb, Ohio. The church structure, basement, and surrounding sidewalks were removed and backfilled with clay soil. The clay was heavily compacted as the finished site will be purchased by the Paulding VFW Post 587 for the future site of the Paulding Veterans Memorial. Fundraising continues for the beautifully designed monument.
White then shared updates on many next-round commercial and residential projects ready to take place in villages and townships around the county. Many easily noticed demolitions will take place around Antwerp, Grover Hill, Haviland, and Melrose, along with environmental testing being completed in Antwerp, Grover Hill, Oakwood, Paulding, and Payne areas.
On the Brownfield Program side of blight clean-up, Matt Wagner, representing the county EPA consulting team, Tetra Tech, shared good news as well. The remediation of the former Mercer Landmark Grain Mill in Antwerp has been completed. It will provide additional parking and turnaround room for grain-hauling semi-trucks and hopper wagons at the Mercer Landmark facility. With the completion of the project, the property will be sold to the Patriot Railroad.
Wagner was eager to share that the new Ohio budget has allowed another $200 million in funding for continued brownfield and blight cleanup in 2026 & 2027. The committee will now be tasked with putting together a new list of potential sites to continue clean-up around the county. This will allow the preparation of sites for future residential and commercial development.
Wagner then reminded the committee that the Ohio Department of Development awarded Paulding County $85,074 in funding for asbestos removal in the Paulding Village-owned former Winkle Chevrolet building, located on the square. The building has asbestos-wrapped pipes and flooring that will be remediated to make the building safer to work in and allow a seamless future sale if the opportunity arises.
Wagner finished by providing brief environmental updates on the former JJ Ross gas station in Grover Hill and the former Stokely pond property in Paulding.
Paulding County Economic Development Director Tim Copsey noted that zoning changes have been completed on a Land Bank-owned property within the Village of Cecil. This will allow the group to move forward with selling a designated parcel to Patriot Railroad for a potential future transload site.
Copsey also provided the committee with information about the former Grizzley property. It is now under the EPA consultant oversight of T&M Associates in Cleveland. They will continue to collect data with an end goal of providing a clean property to the Land Bank in the future.
In addition, Copsey shared that a recent blighted residential property, purchased in Paulding at 621 Sugar Street, is currently being mowed and maintained until demolition takes place later this year.
Committee discussion then turned to the Welcome Home Ohio (WHO) grant funding. With the help of MVPO, the county has been awarded $300,000 to use for residential blight rehabilitation projects over the next 24 months. The current Land Bank financial balance is $63,904.08, but it was decided that with the influx of funds expected from the previously discussed property sales, the committee will begin looking for one or two residential home rehabilitation projects to purchase and target using these grant funds. Additional discussion will now begin with realtors, financial groups, and contractors to develop a plan to use the funds accordingly.
