The Antwerp/Payne/Paulding County Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) has purchased the former Park Station property in Antwerp. The property has been submitted into the Ohio Brownfield Remediation program. Upon state approval, the buildings on the property will be leveled and removed and the property remediated. The hope is to bring the property back to a natural state and open up the opportunity for future development.
Paulding County Economic Development Director Tim Copsey, who works closely with the CIC on projects around the county noted, “The Antwerp Riverside Park has been well used and a draw to the Antwerp community for decades. The Village of Antwerp does an outstanding job in maintaining this property. Attendance and participation in the park will continue to increase with the new river access and soon to be developed Holly Beach Splash Pad. The CIC just felt it would be a wise choice to get control of this property, located near the park, to make sure something didn’t end up here that would be detrimental to a family atmosphere in the future. We can’t thank Ed and Julia Snyder enough for seeing the vision and working with the CIC to make sure this happened.”
The CIC provided a purchase agreement to the Snyder’s in February but the transaction was delayed awaiting an updated property survey. The survey completed in late May and the transaction was finally able to move forward.
CIC President Tom VanVlerah stated, “The CIC has purchased the Park Station property out on old US24 with the intent of improving the site as part of our mission to helping move communities forward. It’s exciting and we hope the community of Antwerp watches as the process unfolds.”
This CIC group currently consists of 14 members from Antwerp, Payne and Cecil. By law, the group consists of a required mix of elected officials and private business leaders. Copsey shared, “Paulding County is unique in the six-county area as to the relationship between the economic development office and the CIC boards. Our county is the only one in the area that doesn’t just have one county CIC entity (Paulding Village and Oakwood Village have their own). In the other five counties, the economic development director is the director for the single CIC board. In this county the director is just an associate member of all three boards, even though well over 50% of our office work is involved with these CIC projects.”
The Antwerp/Payne/Paulding County CIC board meets monthly at the Antwerp Village offices located at the Antwerp train depot. For information about the board or activity please call 419-399-8282.
