A new capital improvement program project account has been created that could lead to the redevelopment of a West End brownfield.

Cincinnati City Council approved the account to hold a $282,228 in Clean Ohio Assistance Fund grant for a Phase II Environmental Assessment of soil and groundwater at the Providence North site, located at near .

The Clean Ohio Fund grant was approved by the Ohio Department of Development early last month. The grant funds had previously been deposited in the Community Development Project Fund.

Providence North contains a mix of City-owned and privately-owned properties, including several businesses that have expressed an interest in expanding.

Five of the seven buildings on the site are vacant.

Expected to begin soon, the assessment will include the sampling of 15 existing monitoring wells and the installation of 13 10-foot soil borings, 20 20-foot soil borings, 28 shallow groundwater monitoring wells, six deep monitoring wells, and six shallow monitoring wells.

Previous Phase I and Phase II assessments, conducted by the Payne Firm and the Ohio EPA between 2005 and 2007, identified potential volatile organic compounds – including tetrachloroethene – near a dry cleaning warehouse on the site.

At the time, the Ohio EPA recommended further Phase II assessments, but lacked the funding to continue.

Data evaluation and modeling will determine the property's environmental suitability and the need for any further remediation.

Previous reading on BC:
Capital account could be created for Providence North (11/3/09)
ODOD awards $282K grant for West End site assessment (10/5/09)