The county will use $100,000 from county Clerk of Courts Jan Mottinger’s auto title fund along with $350,000 from county revenues this year to buy the land, said Commission President Jack Evans.
The commissioners have been discussing building a county owned One Stop Shop instead of leasing space with other agencies for auto-related business.
The county, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Bureau of Motor Vehicles lease space in the One Stop Shop on Experiment Farm Road in Troy. The agencies need space to inspect vehicles, including semis. The commissioners said the current location does not provide adequate room for operations and parking by visitors.
Commissioner Ted Mercer emphasized the county will own the proposed building as opposed to leasing space.
The commission said earlier this year it was continuing to look at all available options for creating the One Stop Shop after hearing preliminary cost estimates to prepare a proposed site on county owned land off Lytle Road north of Troy would exceed $2 million. That estimate did not include a new building whose cost was projected at around $4 million to $5 million in earlier discussions.
The cost to prepare the Lytle Road site was high because Lytle Road would need to be widened.
Evans said the price was right for the Ohio 55 property.
Commissioners wanted to find a location that was central in the county. This property meets that requirement, Commissioner Greg Simmons said.
Other property was looked at but the asking price was considerably more, Evans said.
The real estate sale contract includes a 60-day inspection period. During this time, if the county finds the land is unsuitable for any reason, the seller will be notified of a termination of the sale agreement.
“It is the right time to do this,” Evans said. Hope are the sale will be complete by year’s end.
The commissioners in 2019 looked at a possible One Stop Shop layout with a representative of App Architects. That plan includes a possible drive through window for the BMV. The commissioners also have talked about possibly building space in a new facility to accommodate county or other agency offices.
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