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01-14-04: Celina gets grant to investigate old Mersman factory for contaminants

By SEAN RICE
srice@dailystandard.com

The Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) recently approved a grant to pay for investigating whether the former Mersman Furniture Company property has hazardous contaminants.
Brickyard Investments, a spin-off of Rockford Construction Services (RCS), owns the Wayne Street facility and is executing plans to transform the old table factory into a small business incubator.
Several areas of the property are already being used by businesses and the current environmental investigation process underway will clear the way for total redevelopment of the property, Brickyard Investments controller Craig Valentine said this morning.
Valentine stressed that no contaminants have been found on the site, and none are expected to be found.
“It’s not that we’re expecting to find anything, but this is something we need to do,” Valentine said, adding that Brickyard is following a state voluntary action program.
The $296,000 grant for a Phase II assessment comes from the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund and is expected to cover 100 percent of the cost of the assessment. The process includes drilling for soil samples and ground water quality tests.
The assessment is part of ODOD’s brownfield redevelopment program. Phase I of the program entailed paperwork on the history of the site and possible contaminants. The $8,000 cost was paid for by Brickyard Investments.
Phase III, if needed, would involve actually cleaning the site, and state money is available through a Clean Ohio Brownfield Revitalization Grant.
The current occupants of the facility include SOURCES community network services, Plastic Recycling Technology, Grand Lake Transit, M & K Tool and Die and R K Fencing. Valentine said there is much more space left in the buildings.
“We want to create an environment for small, start-up businesses,” he said.
“I think this is an exciting time for the city, because the RCS building is an asset to Celina, and this redevelopment will make it even more of an asset,” Celina Community Development Director Sue Canary said Tuesday, when the news was released by the state.
Valentine said he expects to receive formal paperwork on the award in mid-February and work will start as soon as possible.

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