The Mercer County Engineer’s Office worked with O. R. Colan’s team led by Anna Lee Durastanti. ORC has provided the expertise of acquisition services for the MER CR 22-1.50 (PID 99669) project that did include ODOT oversight.

ORC treated all the property owners with which they interacted with respect, answered questions and always returned phone calls within 24 hours. ORC assisted me in all aspects of acquiring property for our highway project which made the whole process much easier than was anticipated.

Lastly, ORC acquired these properties with zero appropriations and cleared the project a year ahead of schedule. Mercer County was able to certify this project and had the ability to move this project up to meet an earlier construction date.

I endorse ORC for their excellent service.

Please consider this correspondence as the City of Xenia, Ohio’s full endorsement of the property acquisition skills and expertise exhibited by Ms. Anna Lee Durastanti and the staff at O.R. Colan Associates, LLC.

The O.R. Colan Associates, LLC team was very thorough and always willing to assist the City staff when needed. I have no doubt that this firm will provide the same excellent service to your jurisdiction as well.

I would like to recognize and thank you for your timely monthly reports, complete and accurate acquisition files and for completing projects on time and within budget.

Thanks again for all your hard work on this project. The project is completed, as far as our scope of services and will be closed out in the accounting system. Thanks to all of our efforts, we were able collectively to finish the job at 92.3% of budget.

Thanks again and look forward for future projects.

I would like to express my appreciation for the thoughtful, and respectful, way in which you and Steve and Joanne Cleary of O.R. Colan worked with us to carry out the FAA’s mandate to relocate us away from the airport. The Clearys’ patience with us as we came to terms with losing our house, and their extensive knowledge of fair market values, real estate dealings and the FAA’s rules and regulations, and paperwork, gave us confidence to find a new home. In particular, I appreciate your attentiveness to timelines and financial constraints, and your help for our neighbors who unfortunately needed to deal with an aggressive City Council.

Feel free to pay a visit to our new home. I wish you well as you continue your work on this project.

The City of Burlington, Vermont owns and operates the Burlington International Airport (BTV). Over the past 20 years, under the FAA Airport Improvement Program, BTV has acquired over 200 residential properties.

I have personally worked for BTV in the planning and development department for the past 5 years. I can confirm that O. R. Colan Associates has been instrumental in assisting us meet FAA compliance requirements and secure FAA funding on our land acquisition and relocation programs. The ORC team have an experienced staff that are exceptionally responsive to the displaced property owners and have excellent rapport with the Burlington Airport Officials and FAA. The ORC team are truly experts in implementing land acquisition and relocation assistance programs which is why I have personally been working with them for the past 5 years and the airport for far longer. I would be happy to discuss their efforts at BTV anytime.

I just wanted to take a moment to write you and your team with my many thanks. You, Bill and Terry have made my transition into a new home a good experience. Each of you were very responsive in returning my calls, answering questions and providing assistance when needed. Furthermore, I was really impressed with the personal touch you provided with your willingness to bring documents to me at my home and your availability to work around my hectic schedule. I can’t thank you enough for all of your help and support during such a stressful event for me and my family.

Please know that I am very sad to see you leave this project with RIAC. My thoughts are that many Warwick residents will miss out on such an encompassing team who works together so seamlessly and gets desired results in such a timely manner. I wish each of you much success in your future endeavors.
If you or the team should ever need my assistance don’t hesitate to call me.

Regretfully, the Sanford Airport Authority will no longer have need of O.R. Colan’s services at the completion of this grant. There is no doubt that your professionalism and expertise have been tremendous assets to our program and we count ourselves most fortunate to have had you on our team. Thank you for your hard work, patience, and commitment to our purpose. It has been a great pleasure working with you.

I want to thank you so much for helping me with my problem at my home.

I just can’t tell you what a privilege it is for me to show how kind and caring you all are. I want to let you know how my sister also was made comfortable too.

I am so very lucky to have met you all.

I want to thank you all for making the Voluntary Land Acquisition and Easement Acquisition Programs such a success this past year. We wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for your excellent efforts and work.

Please accept this letter of recommendation for OR Colan’s Cincinnati office. They have an impressive team of very experienced individuals who know how to acquire real estate needed for transportation, water and sewer projects. I have had the pleasure of working with them for many years as Real Property Manager for the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD). The OR Colan team was 150% instrumental in correcting many full fee acquisitions that were non-compliant as result of another consulting firm’s shortcomings.

OR Colan not only came into MSD at my recommendation to take over a very large sewer project’s acquisitions, they also did a full blown audit of the project files. As part of this audit of over 100 acquisitions, they did what was feasible to bring the files into compliance with the Uniform Act and 49 CFR regulation as well as ODOT Rules and Regs. They advised MSD’s administration how to address missing documents and finished up the acquisitions and relocations and left the files in good order!

Their Relocation Specialists are considered the “deans” in the State of Ohio. All of the Real Estate Specialists I encountered were very skilled at all type of acquisitions, from simple easements to complicated full fee acquisitions and closings.

The most important aspect of their real estate office and its leadership, is the integrity in how they tackle projects; they do it with utmost professionalism and accuracy. Even more, they are fair and honest with property owners, taking the time to explain the process while still protecting the ratepayer and/or taxpayers interest. A very rare combination.

I would like to endorse O. R. Colan Associates as a right of way consultant for any future project in the State of Ohio. O. R. Colan completed several projects for the City of Akron over the past several years. The most recent project was the CSO – Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel Project, which consisted of relocation for five businesses and nine residential properties.

O. R. Colan Associates consistently brings projects in on time and within budget, and the staff remains available to assist in providing all aspects of real estate services for the City. They have a rapport with the property owners and the City’s employees which facilitate the acquisition and relocation process.

We look forward to working with O. R. Colan Associates on further projects.

The Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park is working on behalf of the National Park Service (NPS) to develop a new visitor center within the park. The Visitor Center will be in three revitalized, residential structures that were previously privately owned. The Conservancy acquired the property in April of 2017 and donated it to NPS. The Center is on schedule to be open to the public May 2019.

As an integral part of our process, O.R. Colan Associates (ORC) provided turnkey residential relocation services for seven residential households and non-residential relocation service to one landlord business for this project.

All work was performed in accordance with the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (Uniform Act). Their work was highly professional, on schedule and on budget.

Having O.R. Colan as part of our project implementation team significantly simplified the process for both us and the park. We have been completely satisfied with their performance and do not hesitate to recommend them for future, similar services.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (“District”) has maintained a general right of way services agreement with O.R. Colan Associates LLC (“ORC”) since at least 201 I. The contract has been awarded multiple times and ORC is consistently ranked at the top by District reviewers.

The District entered into a federal consent decree in 2011 that requires it to drastically reduce the number of combined sewer overflow events within its region. This necessitated that the District embark on a $2 billion capital improvement plan. The District is building large capacity storage tunnels as well as relief sewers to address the CSO issue. With such a large construction program the role of the right of way consultant is even greater. I rely greatly on the professionals at ORC to acquire the property needed for these projects. ORC knows how to put into practice the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act. The District follows the provisions of the Uniform Act in all its property acquired as a result of the federal consent decree. ORC is able to provide guidance in the nuances of the Uniform Act. ORC is efficient and timely in its property acquisition as well as able to adjust to changing project needs.

The District also recently has taken on the overall management of the regional stormwater network. ORC is assisting with establishing the stormwater acquisition program through the District’s inaugural projects. The stormwater projects are being managed somewhat differently by District staff. ORC has been instrumental in the initial success of this program.

Overall, I am very satisfied with ORC’s performance in providing property acquisition services. From title work to negotiations to relocation assistance, ORC’s work is always top-notch. ORC has been very responsive to changing needs and is readily available to answer a quick question or to provide project updates. Its staff has an extensive knowledge of the Uniform Act and is able to put those provisions into practice.