Future of New Concord's $170M redevelopment project unclear after grant request fails

NEW CONCORD − The Appalachian Ascent Consortium project’s request for $120 million to redevelop downtown New Concord and create an ecotourism corridor affecting 17 counties failed to receive any funding from the Appalachian Community Grant program.Mayor Jennifer Lyle was contacted for comment and said by email “Thanks for your continued interest in this, but at this time there’s nothing specific to share.”Lyle, who ran on a platform of economic development to secure her second term beginning this year, initially said that whether or not the $170 million project was funded by the Appalachian grant, she would continue efforts to bring more restaurants, housing and other economic development markers to New Concord via other grants she was pursuing.In the initial story reported by The Times Recorder, Lyle said, “I’m working on all my Plan Bs to get it done anyway.”Muskingum University, which submitted the $120 million grant request in December 2023, also was contacted for comment about next steps and how the group plans to move forward. It has yet to provide one.The other $50 million would have come from partner resources, according to the grant application obtained by The Times Recorder from the ODD. Additional details were redacted.According to the grant application, the original plan was to “establish Southeast Appalachia as the Midwestern United States ecotourism destination centered on The Wilds, with all visitors and residents benefiting from a culture of healing, restoration, and wellbeing.”According to the Ohio Department of Development Deputy Chief and Media Relations Mason Waldvogel, the Appalachian Community Grant program was highly competitive.“The Ohio Department of Development received nearly $2 billion in requests for a program with a maximum funding amount of $500 million,” Waldvogel wrote in an email. “We are working with communities where projects were not funded to identify additional funding sources, if possible.”The Times Recorder did broach with Mayor Lyle in its request for comment that the state might be working with them. She did not address it. Muskingum University was also directly asked if the state was assisting them in finding other grant avenues. Muskingum has not yet responded.The Appalachian Community Grant Program was instituted in 2022 by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik in conjunction with the Ohio General Assembly. The overall program funneled $500 million into Ohio’s 32-county Appalachian region to transform its communities through economic development projects.Several other surrounding areas did receive funding from the Appalachian grant program. Recipients include, but are not limited to: The Canal Park Trail in Zanesville, $1.17 million; the Zanesville Streetscape and Secrest Auditorium project, $6.4 million; The Great Guernsey Trail Extension, $4.5 million; a Maysville School District School-Based Health Center, $283,000; a Zanesville School District School-Based Health Center, $1.3 millon; the McConnelsville Riverfront Improvements and Streetscape, $10.3 million; and the Newcomerstown Façade project, $786,000.Economic development in New Concord is a necessary step, according to Lyle, who said in the original article on the New Concord project that money is the biggest driver for the changes she wants to see.Over the years, growth in the village has been stalled by a lack of taxes, she said previously. In New Concord, Lyle said the coffers are filled mostly from income tax, not property tax. That’s because so much of New Concord’s property is tax exempt for Muskingum University and the East Muskingum School District. “If we could enlarge our income tax base by having private industries come in, that would assist us in building our tax base,” she said earlier.“New Concord has a lot of potential,” said Lyle in the previous article. “Change is inevitable no matter what you do. I’d rather be in a position to make the change happen, then let it just happen to us.”That change would have been wide-sweeping, according to the application, including closing and reusing New Concord Elementary and the surrounding property for housing and retail development, as well as a community center; adding more diverse housing for young professionals, university professionals, single families and seniors; adding dinner restaurants and other dining options; expanding Genesis HealthCare services; updating the downtown aesthetics to make it more pedestrian-friendly; utilizing and upgrading educational and workforce development opportunities at Muskingum University; and making New Concord a tourism destination that would be part of a larger ecotourism corridor.While Lyle is mum on next steps, her original statement spoke to her plans for how to grow New Concord in a way that keeps it small but makes it big.“Everything is with an eye towards economic development, and how can we make it better,” said Lyle in the original article. “New Concord is one of those communities that can appeal to so many people in different stages of life. It’s a wonderful place to live, work, and play. And we want to enhance that even more than it already is.”

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: New Concord, Muskingum $170M redevelopment project receives no funding