City to apply for grant for brownfield cleanup

CASTLO must reimburse the city for all costs associated with the grant.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
STRUTHERS -- The city took another step in its brownfield cleanup process when city council authorized seeking federal money to help clean up CASTLO property off South Bridge Street.
City council unanimously approved legislation Wednesday that enables the city to apply for a $200,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfield Petroleum Cleanup Grant.
The grant would be used to remove three abandoned underground diesel fuel storage tanks and several above-ground fuel tanks, and remediate or remove contaminated soils around the tanks, officials said.
A related resolution approves a memorandum of agreement with the CASTLO Community Improvement Corporation under which CASTLO agrees to reimburse the city for all expenses associated with the grant, including such things as survey work, administrative costs, legal fees and preparation of documents, said Mayor Daniel Mamula.
The city is filing for the grant because, while the CASTLO CIC, formed to redevelop industrial brownfield property in Campbell, Struthers and Lowellville, owns the land, it is not eligible to apply for funding assistance, officials said.
In order to apply for the Fiscal Year 2006 EPA grant, the city will buy the property from CASTLO for $1 and then sell it back when the work is done. The deadline for filing the grant application is Dec. 14.
Other decisions
Council also authorized Safety-Service Director John Sveda to advertise for bids for other environmental remediation of the former Sheet & amp; Tube Coke Works site in the city using Clean Ohio Assistance Fund Grant money.
"We've done well in the past getting grants to clean up the former Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. mill property," Mamula said.
The mayor said 45 of the 165 acres that were the Sheet & amp; Tube Coke Works have been cleaned up.
"You have to be aggressive, and you can't give up," Mamula said.
In other action, council passed a resolution that urges the Ohio General Assembly to make it a priority to ensure that every person living or working in the state has access to quality health care.
alcorn@vindy.com