ROSEVILLE – Almost a decade of subsidized projects are transforming the village of Roseville.

Few will have the impact of a new supermarket building. “It will be the centerpiece of a new town center,” said Heidi Milner, the village’s finance manager.

It is nearing completion on part of the old Ungemach pottery site on Potters Lane. The construction was funded by $ 750,000 in grants, the bulk of which was a USDA rural development grant and local investments. The new building includes a grocery store, a food court and a display case that could be used for ice cream orders. Garage doors on either side of the dining room will give it a pleasant summer vibe, as will a patio at the back of the building that opens up facing the royalty.

After:Public record: Muskingum County land transfers

The village has had no grocery store since Baker’s IGA closed in 2007.

The authorities are looking for someone to rent the building and operate the store and restaurant. That person or those individuals will be responsible for about $ 250,000 of equipment to run the store, Milner said.

“The village doesn’t want to own it,” said Milner, “our goal is to put in place the right conditions for businesses to start up and thrive with the intention of selling the property and building in order to move on to the next economic development. phase.”

The village also received an energy efficiency grant from the AEP for the new supermarket, which is one more step the village has taken in making the building an attractive place to start a business. “You have to think of everything,” Milner said.

A $ 262,216 loan from the State People’s Bank for groceries will be paid for by income from the rental of the property, she said.

Access to the grocery store will be via a new road, Grand Street. Two abandoned houses will be removed to make way for a boulevard-like street that will connect Main Street and Potters Lane. The new road will have parking and benches on both sides. This project will be funded by a number of grants and loans; $ 30,000 from the Zanesville-Muskingum County Coalition for the environmental portion of the project, including asbestos decontamination; $ 2,500 from the Muskingum County Community Foundation to purchase the property; $ 238,000 from the office of the Governor of the Appalachians; and other grants are pending. The village matched $ 2,000 and took out a State Infrastructure Bank loan from the Ohio Department of Transportation for $ 173,363.

The Grand Road is expected to cost $ 583,850, and the portion of the access road will be tendered out soon, with completion slated for this summer.

Next to the new supermarket is another building belonging to the village, a 7,000 square foot structure that was also part of the Ungemach property. The village put a new roof on the building and cleaned it to prepare it for a new tenant.

The entire parcel, now split in half, was purchased at a sheriff’s sale for $ 1,500. This has now led to more than $ 1.5 million in investments, Milner said.

Between a village-wide paving project and new sidewalks downtown, Main Street has a new feel. Roseville Village Park will also get a new look, after the demolition and remediation of an old gas station near the entrance to the park, which made room for a large parking lot and made the park visible. from Zanesville Road.

The village just received a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to convert the tennis court into three basketball courts and to upgrade the toilets in the village park.

“A grant is already awarded, so we’re just looking for the matching funding to complete,” Milner said. The bathrooms will be renovated to be accessible to people with disabilities and heated for year-round use. The park is in use year-round now, Milner said, since adding a walking trail.

A new sign built with funding from the Perry County Department of Health will also welcome visitors to the park.

Less glamorous, if not visible, are another pair of projects that will save the village money and make it more secure.

As the village is about to connect to the Muskingum County Water Department system, the village water department will install new water meters. Some of the meters serving customers are 30 years old. Between the age of the meters and the leaking service lines, Milner said the department estimates water loss of more than 30%. “It’s like going for months without billing someone,” she said. Some customers may see their bills go up, but they will also get a better estimate of how much water they are actually using. “

Overall, the new water meter project is expected to cost $ 806,391. The village water plant will be reimbursed in July and the debt payment already included in the village budget will be reallocated to this project. Due to the schedule of the project and the repayment of the debt of the water treatment plant, the village will not have to increase the water tariffs. A loan with the Ohio EPA will make the project possible.

In total, the village received $ 6.8 million in grants and spent $ 1.8 million between cash and loans. Just one loan, a $ 400,000 project to replace and expand the village’s storm sewer system, resulted in new charges for residents, Milner said. Residents will pay $ 2.50 per month to cover project debt charges.

The village improvement process began with the construction of a skate park in 2016. Discussions about the park began in 2013 and Milner applied for a dozen grants to find funding for the project. The community raised $ 13,000 to complete it.

“People told us ‘you can’t do that’,” Milner said of the early efforts to create a skate park. “But you can, it can be done, we’ve proven it.”

A community survey revealed what the villagers wanted to see built or improved, and now, Milner said, it is almost time for another survey as nearly all of the projects on that first list have been or are about to be completed. be completed. A new survey in the spring will help pave the way for the next phase of improvements in the village.

And, she says, there are more businesses wanting to come to Roseville than there are properties to occupy. This includes one business looking to relocate from Zanesville and three looking to start. Everyone would like to have buildings to move into. The village has a few buildings, but none are quite ready to be occupied, and they are still not enough to meet demand, Milner said. The village is working on cleaning up a brownfield site next to the grocery store and also owns Baker’s old IGA building. But even then, Milner said, there isn’t enough space.

“We are also trying to work with private owners who have properties that would be good for commercial use,” she said. “It would create a triple win for the company, Roseville, and the owner of the property.”

In addition to these new businesses, the village is still trying to help with the construction of a laundry mat and the expansion of the Ross-Frash funeral home, Milner said. The projects were halted because the funding, although Target of Opportunity Grants, was used to fund the CARES Act.

Projects that have been recently completed or will soon be completed

The estimated costs and the various projects completed or nearing completion between 2019 and early 2021 include:

• Downtown sidewalks: $ 1,122,595
• Ungemach Pottery Cleaning: $ 240,000
• West Athens Highway Bridge: $ 1,147,339
• Village-wide street paving: $ 1,295,045
• Cleaning of the abandoned gas station: $ 250,000
• Grocery: $ 754,400
• Widening of the access road and the Potters lane: $ 551,350
• Environmental for the access road and asbestos removal: $ 30,000
• Construction of the Ungemach building: $ 82,500
• Replacement / addition of storm drain: $ 400,000
• Replacement of the water meter: $ 806,391
• Park washroom upgrade: $ 52,800
• Conversion of tennis courts to 3 basketball courts: $ 62,500
• Total: $ 6,794,920

For more information on village projects, call the village at 740-697-7323.

A story, a tip or a comment? Contact Times Recorder reporter / photographer Chris Crook at [email protected] or 740-868-3708. Social networks: @crookphoto