“The closure will meet Ohio EPA standards, making the site eligible for future redevelopment as a material staging area for the county engineer’s office, reducing operational costs and improving public safety,” state officials said.
County commissioners believe the site was used as a sand and gravel pit, then as a solid waste landfill from 1959-88, then as a construction demolition and debris landfill from 1988-96 that was owned by Robert H. Roberts, according to clerk and administrator Andrea Millice.
“The Champaign County Engineer would like to locate a staging area on the site to be used for road and bridge projects taking place on the northeastern side of Champaign County. Stone, gravel and other project-related construction materials could be stored there for closer access,” Millice said. “The area could also potentially be used for storage of salt and sand and snow treatment products.”
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
The funding is awarded through the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program, which was created by the DeWine-Husted administration in 2021. Since then, $636 million has been awarded to support 626 projects in 86 counties.
In this latest round including the Champaign County project, DeWine and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik announced $86.1 million in state support to help clean up and redevelop 81 hazardous brownfield sites in 46 counties. The breakdown of those funds were $82.1 million for 65 cleanup/remediation projects, and $4 million for 16 pre-cleanup assessment projects.
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