The paperboard plant or its crumbling remnants has been front and center for generations driving though the city on Verity and neighboring residents. Now it is a wide open canvas of possibilities.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The grant funds any additional asbestos removal and demolition, and soil and groundwater remediation. The redevelopment plan envisions commercial or light industrial use, potentially creating 250 new jobs, according to the governor’s office.
“The ultimate goal was to do more than just demo a eyesore in town,” said Acting City Manager Nathan Cahill. “The ultimate goal was to repurpose that property and bring it back into productive use.”
But for that to happen, the city-owned land with a well known history of industrial use and a massive fire in 2020, must receive a sign off from the EPA after soil testing and remediation.
“The whole end goal is of this process is for the director of the Ohio EPA to issue a covenant not to sue,” Cahall said. The covenant will also give direction, depending on what is found, on what the land can be used for.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Both Cahall and Councilman Paul Lolli, the former city manager and the fire chief when the massive fire broke out on New Years Day four years ago, said that will be some type of commercial use.
“I would imagine it will be some type of commercial or light industrial use. I don’t see residential being permitted,” Lolli said. “Maybe a grocery store, laundromat or something like that that is needed in South End.”
What the city doesn’t want is a large storage unit facility.
“We are talking industry in a warehouse that has jobs,” Lolli said. “We are looking for something that produces revenue for us.”
Cahall said while the testing and remediation continues until they have and EPA signoff, city staff is exploring future plans.
“We are developing a good plan for how we can market the site in the future so that it will hopefully be a new gateway to the city that spurs more development on the Sound End of town,” he said.
Remediation and razing of the site began in earnest last fall with much of the site being clear by this summer, except for a couple huge gravel piles that will likely be used as filler at the end of the project, according to officials.
The work was covered by a $3 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant the city received from Butler County commissioners.
On Jan. 1, 2020, a homeless man staying inside the building lit a fire to stay warm. the man reportedly left to get more wood for the fire, but it spread to his bedding, he told police. The suspect, who had multiple arrest warrants, fled the scene.
The 38-years-old man was arrested a day later on charges of arson, a fourth-degree felony, and aggravated arson, a second-degree felony. He pleaded guilty to arson, and he was sentenced to five years of community control.
The plant had been closed about 20 years before the fire. The city has owned the property since late 2019.
The site was described by city officials for years as “an eyesore” for years even before the massive arson fire.
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