Mayor: Use Leather Works funds elsewhere

Melfi wants the former factory site to be a national priority.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- Mayor James J. Melfi intends to use for other brownfield sites the $200,000 grant designated to test the former Ohio Leather Works property for environmental hazards.
The mayor said Friday he is taking the action because negotiations between the city and property owners Leatherworks Partnership have broken off.
The $200,000 EPA grant would have paid for the testing for pollutants on the property.
"The goal is to keep the $200,000 in the city of Girard," the mayor asserted.
Other brownfield sites include the 15-acre former Mid-Continental Coal Co. that once supplied coal to steam engines; the 18-acre former Demsey Steel Co. that closed about 10 years ago; and 80-acre former A.M. Byers Steel Co. that closed in 1939. All of the properties are on the east side of the Mahoning River and west of State Street (Route 422).
Leather Works Property
As for the Leather Works property, Melfi said he is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate the 27 acres along U.S. Route 422 to determine if it can be placed on a national priority list. This would allow it to receive EPA funds to test the land for pollutants.
During such an evaluation of the site, the EPA would work closely with Leatherworks Partnership, the mayor explained. Leatherworks Partnership would have to pay for any cleanup.
The city has been locked in a long-standing legal battle over the site, which has cost the city about $100,000 in legal fees, to foreclose on the property to satisfy zoning violations. The city maintains the owner owes it $300,000 in fines.
Melfi pointed out that it's not known if there are any hazards on the land because Leatherworks Partnership has refused to permit the testing.
The mayor explained the tests could be negative because there is a theory that any pollutants have dissipated.
Melfi said he wants the EPA's involvement in the Ohio Leather Works site. "We need help, and it's the agency to help us," he said.
yovich@vindy.com