CAMPBELL, Ohio (WKBN) — Valley Congressman Bill Johnson visited a brownfield site in Campbell on Tuesday, talking with the community about plans for remediation.
Campbell Mayor Bryan Tedesco showed Johnson the land at Casey Industrial Park they want to purchase. Of the 100 acres, 70 still need to be cleaned up from the petroleum contaminants left behind by the steel industry.
“We can remove those by either capping them digging them out taking them off hauling them away — there’s a couple ways of dealing with it,” said Chris Tolnar, GPD Group Project Manager.
But removing those contaminants is estimated to cost $1.8 million. Johnson has applied for $800,000 in Community Funding Project dollars for 2024 toward that cost.
Tedesco has big plans for after this industrial park brownfield is remediated.
“We could use this river,” Tedesco said. “They cleaned it, we want to utilize the river. In the back, there’s all that property we’d like to have industry back there.”
If the project goes through, Tedesco is interested in bringing in IT and manufacturing jobs that would ultimately bring in more tax revenue for the city.
“From law enforcement to EMS, you name it, basic city services they struggle from week to week month to month year to year. They struggle here because of the tax base,” Johnson said.
The land also borders the Mahoning River, an area Congressman Johnson says if used properly could help revitalize Campbell.
“You’ve seen cities all over the country revitalize areas by doing that kind of thing, so the short answer is yes, I think it’s an underutilized resource and we’d like to see that turn around,” Johnson said.
