EAST PALESTINE — On Monday, East Palestine Council tabled a request from the East Palestine Community Improvement Incorporation (EPCIC) for a half-a-million-dollar, zero-interest loan until the EPCIC can provide the village with more information.

Village manager Antonio Diaz-Guy asked council to pass a resolution allowing the EPCIC to borrow $500,000 to help the group complete the train depot project and advance progress on the former PNC lot that the EPCIC acquired last year, as well as another project that is in the works that was not disclosed.

“I fully support the CIC and the vision and the work they are doing for the village, but a half million dollars is a lot of money,” councilman Lenny Glavan said. “I would just assume if the CIC was inquiring about $500,000, I would like to see more on paper today.”

The idea, originally, was to utilize grant funds to finish the train depot. The structure was donated to the village by Norfolk Southern after what the railroad claimed was over $1 million in renovations to its exterior. Norfolk Southern pledged another $100,000 to finish the interior of the historic building near the corner of North Market and Taggart streets. The EPCIC was later granted agency over the building and began plans to make it a code-compliant commercial space that would be self-sustaining through money collected from tenant rent. However, the group was met with a stark realization that the $100,000 wouldn’t be near enough to finish the inside up to code. It had been decades since the depot had been last utilized and it had no HVAC system, no electricity, no plumbing and no insulation. The wooden walls were original to the building which was built in 1905 and the floor just a thick slab of cement.

Still, the EPCIC forged on with the plans and sent out a call for proposals from potential businesses who had interest in occupying the depot space. The EPCIC then chose the one they believed would be the best fit. That business has since signed a letter of interest to rent the space and the building is being re-designed to fit the specifications needed for that particular tenant.

In February, the CIC reported it was hopeful that grant opportunities — $250,000 through Community Development Block Grant Program and another $250,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission — would cover the bulk of the needed funds and ask the village to fund the remaining balance using some of East Palestine’s $22 million settlement with Norfolk Southern. But that didn’t work out.

“The plan was to originally grant fund all [of the projects]. The downside is that grant funds take a long time to get those applications in. You apply for them and then you have to wait for the funds to administer if you get them,” Diaz-Guy explained. “These projects are at the stage right now where they are ready to move forward but the grant cycles are not here.”

Diaz-Guy added not being able to “get ahead of the grants” could “stall” projects and means that projects that could be finished in six months could take two years.

He said the EPCIC would continue to fundraise and pursue grant leads but called the loan “a good idea to get some of these projects over the finish line.”

Diaz-Guy said the money is needed to make East Palestine a choice for new businesses looking to set up shop and for existing businesses looking to expand.

“We have no lack of businesses wanting to move [to East Palestine],” Diaz-Guy said. “We have a lack of suitable properties.”

Still, council was wary.

“Where is the CIC getting the money to pay us back?” Mayor Trent Conaway asked.

Diaz- Guy said payback could come from the cashflow generated by commercial leases, in the immediate equity of the buildings and from future grant funds.

“But if we give these $500,000 and the building is complete then they are not going to get a grant for the depot,” Councilman John Simon pointed out.

“I don’t know what the commercial rent will be, but it will take a long time to pay back $500,000,” Conaway added.

According to Diaz- Guy, the EPCIC planned to “keep the money in the village coffers until it is requested on a per-project basis” and allow the funds to continue to collect interest. He also said that part of the $22 million settlement the village received from Norfolk Southern was intended for this kind of use.

“There are no requirements to use it for any one thing, but when you broke down what into settlement negotiations, yeah, some was meant for recovery of the local economy,” he said.

Ultimately, council chose to table the request until the EPCIC provided them with a detailed plan and a better understanding of how and where the money would be spent. A special council meeting will be held in the near future to revisit the matter and review information provided by the EPCIC.

Council also failed to pass three pieces of legislation under emergency declarations recommended by Diaz-Guy that would have paved the way to immediately establish an East Palestine Building Department, allow the village to enter into an agreement with Elevate Building Solutions as the village’s “primary contractor for that department” and enable the village to expedite the way commercial buildings could be built or modified.

“Basically we could get done in two weeks what takes the state of Ohio three to six months,” Diaz-Guy said when advocating for the legislation. “This is an extremely attractive way to bring development to the community. This is why bigger cities generally get looked at for development over smaller communities because they have access to do their own permitting — electrical, HVAC — the way we in East Palestine traditionally do not have.”

Under the agreement, the village would pay Elevate $25,000 to circumvent the wait by issuing the permits itself and then allow Elevate to keep 95% the surplus of permitting fees while the village would get 5%. But that would also mean that commercial building owners would be charged a flat rate higher than what the state currently charges to have Elevate handle permitting. It would also mean commercial building owners would no longer be able to apply for those permits on their own through the state.

Diaz-Guy wanted all three legislation items passed as an emergency but council decided to hold just first readings of both so they could hear more from Elevate regarding fees and the process.

Also in legislation, a resolution to approve authorization to sign and file an annexation petition on behalf of the owners of parcels immediately north of where the new municipality complex and safety complex will be built on North Market passed by a 3-2 vote. The village and the limited-liability company BTLC own those properties which total 22.8 acres in Unity Township.

A resolution was also passed that grants the EPCIC as agents of vacant lots and other village-owned property.

Passing as emergencies were ordinances to repeal and replace the hours of the building zoning inspector to allow the position up to 29 hours a week and to amend new rates for the street department to be charged when completing work on private property.

selverd@mojonews.com