North Ridgeville finds home for giant pile of dirt blocking new police station site

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — A giant pile of dirt that blocked the site of the future North Ridgeville Police Department station has been relocated, removing an imposing obstacle that needed to be addressed before ground could be broken. Mayor Kevin Corcoran said Friday the city hired an outside contractor to transport the soil to a retention basin south of West Point Drive. "We are enlarging that basin, so we wound up using it over there to build up the sides of that basin," he said. "And we're going to be digging some additional dirt out of that area to make that basin bigger and function even better than it does." Corcoran said the cost ended up being lower than the maximum of $150,000 that was originally anticipated to move the pile to another location in the city. The mountainous dirt pile accumulated for decades behind the city's service garage off Bainbridge Road, growing every time the Service Department added soil that was excavated while fixing water main breaks and other issues. The distance between the service garage and the retention basin is about 1 mile. City officials had been evaluating options for removing the pile this year, including during an April meeting when City Council members discussed possible solutions. It became a more pressing matter after North Ridgeville voters approved Issue 11 in November, a 20-year, 0.81-mill bond issue that will fund the new station. With the issue of the dirt now addressed, the next step toward building the police station is for City Council to approve legislation allowing the mayor to enter into a professional design services contract with Westlake-based Architectural Vision Group for no more than $850,000. The legislation will be read by City Council for the second time on Monday. Corcoran said ground could be broken in the spring, and the facility is expected to take between 18 months and two years to construct. "There is a lot of work that goes into it, so it will take a while, he said. "And hopefully, things like supply chain issues won't disrupt us from being able to get it done." When it is completed, officials hope the new police station will solve numerous issues with the current facility such as limited space, a hodgepodge design and an overall outdated headquarters. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.