Youngstown board approves agreement with EPA to test Market Street site

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The board of control approved an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do testing of the former Masters Tuxedo site.

The building at 3600 Market St., vacant since 2002, was destroyed in an April fire.

The board agreed Tuesday to have the EPA do testing of the ground at the location to determine what types of contaminants are on the property – related to the use of dry-cleaning chemicals – and then seek a federal grant to clean it up, said T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s director of community planning and economic development.

The EPA testing is being done at no cost to the city and will begin later this month, she said.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said of the property, “I’d like to have it greened and cleaned and be consistent with the rest of Market Street.”

The city gained ownership of the property in 2010 after it went through foreclosure and attempts to develop the parcel have been unsuccessful.

The goal, Woodberry said, is to obtain federal funding to be used to develop the property.