`Council asked to help get grant to clear plot`

By Kristen Garrett
Herald Staff Writer

Sharon City Council has been asked to act as a gateway for the Shenango Valley Industrial Devel-opment Corp. to apply for a grant to clean up property along South Dock Street.

John Holliday, SVIDC executive director, said his organization is in the process of clearing the land which used to house the former Midland-Ross Corp. plant.

Holliday said SVIDC would like to apply for a $300,000 state grant to be used for the clearing, demoli-tion and possible new construction on the property. A remediation plan will have to be submitted to the state in order to remove any mate-rials — such as asbestos — that are considered health hazards, he said.

Holliday said the grant must be obtained through a municipality. He said the city would have no obliga-tions as far as applying for the grant or distributing the money — SVIDC will do all of the work.

The work needs to be completed by the third quarter of next year because the land has been sold, Holliday said. He said Sunbelt Transformer bought a portion of it to expand its plant located next door.

Councilman George Gulla said it will be good to have the land cleared.

“Everybody’s getting sick of look-ing at [the property] rusting away,” he said. Councilman Joe Baldwin echoed Gulla’s opinion and said the progress along Broadway Avenue in Farrell over the past years has been “unbelievable.”

SVIDC bought the property from Berk Realty Inc. of Niles, Ohio at a judicial sale in January 1998. Berk had not payed city, school district or county taxes since 1990 and owed $745,000 in October 1997, when Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Francis J. Fornelli ordered the land to be sold to pay the taxes.

Council members will vote on be-ing part of the grant at Monday’s meeting.

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