City seeks funds to clean up land near river


WHAT: West Carrollton City Council meeting

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. tonight

WHERE: West Carrollton Civic Center, 300 E. Central Ave.

The city is seeking grant funds to clean up about 30 acres designated for recreational use near the Great Miami River.

The 28.17 acres on Hydraulic Road is the focus of the city’s efforts to land Community Development Block Grant funds. They would be used to clean up former Appvion property that housed a waste water treatment plant and make it “shovel-ready for redevelopment,” West Carrollton City Manager Brad Townsend said.

The planned use of the site fits the city’s vision for the riverfront, a $300 million long-term plan that calls for an entertainment district downtown, Townsend has said.

West Carrollton administrators are asking its city council Tuesday, May 12, for approval to apply for $75,000 to clean up the land, which Appvion donated to the city last year with the deed restriction that it be used for recreational purposes, Townsend has said.

“It’s sufficient enough to complete the work on the old plant there,” he said of the CDBG request, “which is what we’re after at this point.”

The city has been talking with a potential user of the land. Townsend declined to identify that party, but noted “they’re looking to make a significant investment and hopefully we can make an announcement later this year.”

Townsend said the interested party had not changed since last year, when the city manager said he planned to talk with the Centerville United Soccer Association.

CUSA organizes the Mead Cup, a tournament that draws teams from several states and is held at multiple locations throughout the Dayton area. Last year Townsend said CUSA has “a long-range vision” to hold the Mead Cup at one site.

CUSA has been talking with West Carrollton officials about land, an association official said Monday. But Dan Monahan, a CUSA official who has directed the Mead Cup, declined to comment further.

The city’s request for CDBG funds would cover “a vast majority of the costs,” Townsend said.

It would constitute less than 10 percent of the nearly $800,000 Montgomery County would have for the fiscal year 2015 funding cycle, according city documents.

The funds would “enable the demolition and removal of all treatment structures and equipment,” according to a memo from West Carrollton Planning Director Greg Gaines.

If approved, the grant funds would be available Oct. 1 and construction would start next spring, the memo from Gaines states.

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