WARREN City seeks tax waiver for property

The city is waiting for the EPA to say no further remediation is needed.
WARREN -- The city plans to ask the state to waive real property taxes, interest and penalties that have accrued over the years on the former Mahoningside Power Plant property on Summit Street.
City council will vote tonight on a resolution to ask the state to remit $57,560 in delinquent taxes for the now city-owned property.
The site, formerly known as Warren Water and Light Co., was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury.
The city discovered high PCB levels in 1999 during plant demolition.
In July 2000, the city asked the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to step in and help with cleanup efforts.
The EPA took over remediation, which finished in February.
The plant, which was on a 5-acre site on the west bank of the Mahoning River, was leveled in March 1999 after sitting vacant for many years.
Cleanup costs: Cleanup became too costly for the city, which used $2.3 million in private funds, state grants, loans and Community Development Block Grant money for the work.
Law Director Greg Hicks said the city is waiting for the Ohio EPA to sign off on cleanup efforts, saying no further remediation is needed and contamination is below hazardous levels.
Once that happens, Hicks said, backfilling will begin on the property.
The city has said long-term plans are to develop the property commercially.
Officials have said the city acquired the property after it was foreclosed.