The Pickaway County Port Authority has been awarded more than $999,000 in state brownfield assessment funding to support redevelopment efforts at several long-vacant and environmentally challenged properties in Pickaway County, including the former Purina Mill property in Circleville.
The funding was announced this week by Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, and the Ohio Department of Development as part of the state’s ongoing Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program.
Among the largest local awards was $300,000 for environmental assessments at the former Purina Mill property located at 901 S. Court Street. The site contains seven vacant industrial buildings that remain in deteriorated condition.
Officials said the project will focus on subsurface environmental testing to identify contamination concerns under Ohio’s Voluntary Action Program and help guide future cleanup and redevelopment plans for the property, which sits within Circleville’s innovation and employment district.
The Pickaway County Port Authority also received:
- $266,524 for environmental assessment work at 130 S. Court Street in Circleville, where historic underground storage tank contamination linked to a former gas station was previously identified near the city’s municipal building.
- $166,952 to continue environmental assessments at the former DuPont Tedlar Manufacturing Facility on DuPont Road, a long-vacant industrial property targeted for future redevelopment.
- $266,524 for assessment activities at a former gasoline service station area on the Pickaway County Fairgrounds located at 415 Lancaster Pike.
The assessment projects will include soil borings, groundwater testing, monitoring wells, and vapor sampling designed to determine contamination levels and identify future remediation needs.
State officials announced a total of $61 million in brownfield funding statewide, including $45.8 million for cleanup and remediation projects and $15.3 million for environmental assessment work in 75 counties.
“Sites like these do no good when they’re left alone to contaminate the soil and impact the health of our neighborhoods,” DeWine said in the announcement. “Throughout the past five years, we’ve changed the trajectory of hundreds of properties that once held our communities back.”
Since launching in 2021, the Brownfield Remediation Program has awarded nearly $780 million to support 841 projects across Ohio.
According to state officials, the goal of the program is to prepare abandoned or underutilized industrial and commercial sites for future redevelopment, economic growth, and community revitalization.
