Earlier this year, Middletown missed the first filing deadline to remediate the 14 aces on Verity Parkway, the former Middletown Paperboard site that was severely damaged in an arson fire more than two years ago.
During the Feb. 1 City Council meeting and days later, then-City Manager Jim Palenick was heavily criticized for the city missing the Jan. 31 deadline, thus possibly costing the city $2.8 million in grants through the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program.
At the time, Palenick said if Middletown wasn’t awarded a grant in the first round, it’s “not end of the game.” He was confident Middletown would receive a grant from the state.
Palenick and the city signed a mutual separation agreement six weeks later.
When the state biennial budget passed, it allocated $150 million for commercial and residential demolitions and $350 million for brownfield remediation. Each of the 88 counties were automatically awarded $500,000 for demolition and $1 million for brownfield remediation, which is the removal of hazardous materials left when industrial, or even commercial such as dry cleaners blight is downed. No local match was required.
Middletown applied for the brownfield remediation grant and was hoping to get the full $1 million no-match grant allotted to the county for the $2.8 million project to down the gutted Paperboard site.
Zack Ferrell, a first-year city council member, was upset and contacted The Journal-News when council learned the city missed the deadline for the first round of grants. But he’s positive about the redevelopment of the former Paperboard because the city has received a “verbal pledge” for financial assistance from the county commissioners.
He said the city needs to demonstrate to its residents the importance of cleaning up neighborhoods. Without those improvements, Ferrell said “nothing will change” in the city.
Successful cities, he said, have the ability to attract visitors, then give them reasons to become residents.
He called the former Paperboard site “not inviting,” and due to that, “people don’t want to visit, much less stay.”
Lolli called the Paperboard site part of the “gateway to Middletown” from the south. He envisions developing the property into light industrial or light commercial.
Once that area gets “cleaned up,” Lolli believes it will lead to more development.
The same is true on the East End, he said.
“We got to get going,” he said.
Todd Walker, chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Development said it received 204 applications from 59 counties totaling $262 million for the brownfield grant by the Jan. 31 deadline and extended the second round of funding for counties that did not apply or didn’t use their entire set-aside.
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