City 'May' Know Soon About $3 Million Grant

As demolition of the former Chrysler stamping plant signals the end of an era, the city could be rewarded for its cleanup and future endeavors.

At a public hearing last week, Twinsburg officials updated residents on a (CORF), which the city is applying for. The city should know if its application was approved when the Clean Ohio Council meets in May.

CORF is a state program that provides money to communities to clean up and restore contaminated properties.

The grant would help the city cover costs to complete "remediation and demolition activities at the 167-acre CornerStone Business Park," the application states.

"Obviously this is an important project to us," Larry Finch, the director of planning and community development, said.

According to Finch, development of the property could mean:

• 3,200 employees
• $128 million in wages
• $2.5 million in local tax income revenue
• $4.5 millino in state income tax revenue

Kristy Hull from Grubb & Ellis Company, representing the property owners, said demolition of the stamping plant could be finished by July or August. The demolition would mean the entire building--including the high-bay--which developers originally planned to keep.

"They decided to demolish it and start with a clean slate," Hull said.

The grant money from CORF would help with the environmental cleanup from the project.

"This project epitomizes what CORF is about: Addressing environmental concerns," Hull said.

Karyn Selle, representing the environmental engineering firm Hull & Associates, Inc., said that 5,593 cubic yards of affected soils and asbestos-containing materials will all be removed from the site. However, she was surprised there wasn't more damage.

"Generally, the site doesn't have much contamination at all," Selle said. She did mention, however, that there was some oil accumulation along the property's train rails, but it's "not bad for a manufacturing site."

The application is currently in the local competition stage, but there is no competition. It will then move on the the state level. In total the Ohio Department of Development received 20 applications requesting over $32 million.