Funds Approved to Clean Former Dempsey Steel Site

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown Board of Control approved a $286,366 contract this morning with MS Consultants for additional cleanup at the former site of Dempsey Steel after contractors at the site found a petroleum leak.

“That item is for the engineering work and services that they [MS Consultants] will need to address some of the work they’ve done already and then their work going forward to finish up that cleanup,” said T. Sharon Woodberry, director of the city’s community planning and economic development department.

The site, 1500 State St., is used by Vallourec as a staging area to process inventory.

In addition, the city has applied for a $2 million loan from the state’s brownfield revolving loan fund for the site and city officials should hear back from the Ohio Development Services Agency “within 30 days, probably sooner,” Woodberry said.

At the board of control meeting approving the application March 1, Woodberry said the $2 million needed to clean the Dempsey Steel site was “a worst case scenario. If it comes in lower, obviously that would be better.”

Woodberry added that cleanup work needs to be start quickly.

“It needs to be immediate. There needs to be urgency,” she said. “There was already an emergency cleanup to contain what was there but everything that needs to occur needs to happen as soon as possible.”

The board also approved transferring the deed for the former Burkland & Sons floral shop, 3514 Market St., to Lisa Robinson, who began renovating the vacant build over a year ago for her landscaping business, Show Stopper Landscaping.

Robinson has invested more than $50,000 into the building, according the board. The fair market value of the property is $45,080. Robinson will buy the building from the city for $1.

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