Staff report

The Trumbull County Land Bank, managed by Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, has received approximately $2.5 million for the cleanup of five abandoned gas stations.

TNP originally applied for a $2.6 million federal grant from the U.S. EPA, but the Ohio EPA awarded the funds in the form of Targeted Brownfield Assessments, according to a news release from TNP.

The addresses of the properties to be included in funding for remediation and demolition are as follows:

• 2855 Tod Ave. SW, Warren Township

• 3624 Main St., Mineral Ridge (Weathersfield Township), which was a former McQuaid’s Gas Station

• 165 E. Main St., West Farmington

• 2904 Belmont Ave, Liberty, which was a former USA Gas Mart

• 1426 Niles Road SE, Warren

The Ohio EPA determined that these Trumbull County projects are well-positioned to use available funding to complete the remaining work at each site. The agency will facilitate the completion of remediation activities at these locations, allowing work to move forward on an accelerated timeline.

“TNP is grateful to the Ohio EPA for funding the demolition and remediation needed at these five former gas station properties, which are all now owned by the Trumbull County Land Bank. These blighted sites have been hazards to their communities in some cases for decades, and the allocation of this funding will allow them to once again become productive parts of Trumbull County,” said Gillian Costantino, environmental programs coordinator for TNP.

“All five of these properties are abandoned, and they were previously used as gas stations, so they have tanks in the ground that are contaminating the soil,” Costantino said during public hearings on the grant in January. “We want to eliminate that hazard, get the tanks out, and then they’re ready to be reused.”

TNP got the properties through tax foreclosures. Costantino said the grant would cut red tape by covering cleanup costs and wiping out back taxes to draw in developers.

At the January public hearings, Liberty Township Trustee Arnie Clebone said the Belmont Avenue site hurts the area’s image and commerce.

“Belmont Avenue, to me, is an extremely important part of Liberty commerce,” Clebone said. “The gas station sitting there is a blight.”

He noted recent growth nearby, including two new Mercy Health buildings that opened in December on Belmont Avenue — a rehabilitation hospital and a behavioral hospital — along with multiple surrounding businesses in the area.

Warren Township Trustee Chair Ed Anthony praised the cleanup push, saying that the gas stations were eyesores that need fixing to match big local growth like the new Kimberly-Clark manufacturing plant at the former RG Steel site in Warren and Howland townships. Anthony said the township had tried through state programs to get them cleaned up.

He stressed that the Kimberly-Clark project, set to hire 650 workers as soon as it ramps up, creates a rare chance for Trumbull County to build housing and fix up abandoned spots like trailer parks and old commercial sites in areas around Warren Township, Mineral Ridge, Niles and Girard.

“There’s a really, really big push for getting some of these abandoned properties, these commercial properties, these trailer parks that are abandoned and messed up,” Anthony said.

Anthony said he’s embarrassed by the blights when showing the area to company reps during dozens of meetings to land the plant over competition from other states. He urged a countywide effort involving commissioners, the land bank and others to seize the moment before it passes.

“I’ve been around for a while. Let me tell you, right now, this is a rare opportunity,” Anthony said. “In the next five to seven years, if this county don’t prosper from it, shame on us… This won’t come around again for many years.”

A brownfield is a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination. Examples are gas stations, laundromats, open dumping sites, former factories and buildings involved in steel manufacturing and other industries.

Benefits of brownfield remediation include a decrease in community exposure to hazardous substances, creating safer communities by removing vacant and structurally compromised buildings, generating job growth via new development and increasing surrounding property values, according to TNP’s website.

Contamination does not need to be definite for sites to be referred to the brownfield program. The hazards present may not be clearly visible, but could still be very dangerous. Once sites and project partners are identified, the cleanup advances.

Some brownfield projects in Trumbull County that could be eligible include the former McDonald Steel site, former Warren Delphi Packard plant, former U.S. Steel site, former Trumbull Industries, former Kunkle plant, former Diversified Resources U.S. plant in Champion, former Leatherworks plant in Girard, former General Electric plant in Niles, and the former Peerless Winsmith factory in Warren

Some brownfield sites that already have been remediated through the grant program include the former Republic Steel / BRT Extrusions, the former Warren Community Development building, former Mahoningside power plant in Warren, former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital, the former Wean Building in Warren and the former RG Steel plant, which soon will become a manufacturing facility for Kimberly-Clark.

No specific plans have been revealed for any of the properties, but bids will go out soon, TNP Executive Director Matt Martin said. He said gas station cleanup costs usually are $300,000 per site.