Scioto County Commissioners unanimously voted to apply for a Brownfield Grant to assist in the cleanup of the former New Boston Coke Facility.
Scioto County Commission Chairman Scottie Powell said, “This is a project our economic development director has been working tirelessly on for years. There was funding that went through the legislation this year and it’s our understanding that the Coke Plant was used as the poster child to get this funding.”
Powell said that every county that applies will get $1 million if they have a qualified project. Scioto County will be asking for more than that in order to bring down the stacks and cap them to make the area safe for residents.
The county must also provide some matching funds for the project. Powell said Scioto County’s portion would come to just under $500,000. “In my opinion, it is well worth it when you’re talking about the chemical contamination on that property. Their water supply is right there.”
Commissioner Powell said Brownfield money does not come along very often.
Commissioner Bryan Davis congratulated Economic Development Director Robert Horton for his work and said that the Scioto County Land Bank had also worked tirelessly on the project. “This is good news. This is the last few parcels of what was the former coke/steel mill in New Boston. It has languished since 2004. This will get us where we need to be. The opportunity was made possible by the General Assembly and Governor.”
Davis said hopefully they would finally be able to develop the property. The Commissioner pointed out that the General Assembly has appropriated other money to clean up blighted properties and he hoped that there would finally be some progress in cleaning up the blighted properties that have haunted the area. “We’re pretty excited.”
