City nears deal for land near river

City Manager Brad Townsend said the interested developer’s planned “use of the site kind of fits with plans for our riverfront.”

Townsend would not disclose the identity of the organization that could use the parcel in the end, but said the deed restriction for the property allows for soccer fields, a soccer stadium or a city park, Townsend said.

He said he tried to have a deal for re-use of the land in place by the time Appvion Inc., formerly Appleton Papers, donated the 29 acres, at 4000 Hydraulic Road, to the city.

Appvion transfered the land to the city this week for $1, records indicate.

“Hopefully in a couple of months we’ll have an announcement,” (about the end-user) Townsend said.

When asked Friday if the city was in discussions with the Dayton Dutch Lions or the Centerville United Soccer Association, Townsend declined to answer.

Earlier this month, Townsend said he planned to meet with CUSA, which organizes the Mead Cup, a tournament that draws teams from several states and is held at multiple locations throughout the Dayton area.

At that time, Townsend said CUSA has “a long-range vision” to hold the Mead Cup at one site.

CUSA Director of Operations Dwight Burgess said in an e-mail Friday that he has been working with the West Carrollton city officials, but did not elaborate.

City records show a connection between Appvion and CUSA.

“The Appvion donation is almost complete,” according to a May 8 memo by Townsend, “contractual language has been agreed to and a preliminary plan for redevelopment has been agreed to tangentially by CUSA and the City.”

The land Appvion donated is the former site of Appleton’s wastewater treatment facility. It is not known at this point how much clean-up of the site, which has not been used for more than a year, would cost, Townsend said.

The city has contracted with the environmental arm of the law firm Thompson Hine to assist in the site work, he said.

“The site is really not that dirty,” Townsend said. “The paper company is not messy.”

The city plans to inventory the equipment on the site and perform other work as part of the clean-up, Townsend said.