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State board OKs $1.77M for cleanup at former Wean site
By Marc Kovac
and David Skolnick
COLUMBUS
The state Controlling Board approved $1.77 million for environmental cleanup at a downtown industrial site in Youngstown.
The funding, approved Monday through the state’s Clean Ohio Revitalization Program, will be used to prepare the former Wean United Facility at 219 S. Phelps St., for future uses.
The city wants to redevelop the site into manufacturing space or research and laboratory space for new environmental technologies.
The total cost will be nearly $2.4 million, with the city covering the balance.
About 50,000 square feet of the 150,000-square-foot structure, closest to Market Street, will be demolished.
Cleanup activities will include removal of contaminated soils and asbestos.
“The transformation of the project property into an industrial center would tie into the expanding industrial district on the south side of the city,” according to documents.
The site has been used for industrial operations since about 1885, including general manufacturing, metal casting and foundry work.
Wean United closed the plant in 1989.
Youngstown Pipe and Supply still uses a portion of the property.
The Clean Ohio Council signed off on the project last month.
The money was contingent on approval of the state Controlling Board, which signed off on it Monday.
The Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund is a competitive statewide program that provides grants of up to $3 million to acquire property, demolish structures, conduct environmental cleanup and improve infrastructure.
Since its inception, 150 Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund projects have been awarded more than $280 million, leveraging $2.2 billion in private- sector investment and creating and retaining more than 15,400 jobs.