Council Weighs Borrowing $2M from Brownfield Fund

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – City Council will consider whether to borrow $2 million from the state’s brownfield revolving loan fund for the former Dempsey Steel property.

The funds are needed to address recently discovered issues at the property, which the city acquired to support Vallourec operations.

The legislation, on the agenda for this week’s meeting, would authorize the Board of Control to apply for the funds. The city had acquired the property, 1500 State St., to support development of Vallourec’s $1 billion-plus pipe mill that opened in 2013.

Contractors on the site “encountered petroleum leakage that was not planned for,” said T. Sharon Woodberry, Youngtown director of community planning and economic development. “We’re not certain what the cause of the leaking is but it was a cost we had not anticipated.”

Youngstown is pursuing the $2 million for a “worst case scenario,” she said. “If it comes in lower, obviously that would be better.”

The city earlier received $1.2 million from the state Clean Ohio fund to remediate the site, for which the city provided a $692,146 match.

The property wasn’t needed for the initial construction of the mill but Vallourec still intends to use the property for staging of materials and pipe as it processes inventory, Woodberry said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.