Lucas County commissioners on Tuesday will consider advertising for bids for a remediation project at South Avenue and Kuhlman Drive, near I-75, where a new Material Recovery Facility will be located.
The project requires remediation at the site, a former landfill, as part of a Brownfield grant for the new facility. The county plans to solicit bids for various stages of the remediation project, such as site stabilization, which includes the placement of pre-approved soil on a portion of the site.
“We’re going to bring in excess soil and allow it to settle and then determine the type of foundation we can put on there,” said Jim Shaw, county sanitary engineer. “So we’re setting the stage where we’re going to fix up this site in order to put the facility on it.”
The proposed facility is estimated to save the county about $2 million per year, Mr. Shaw said.
Recycling materials that are put out at the curb or collected at drop-off locations are transferred 90 miles away to Oberlin, Ohio, to be sorted. With the new facility, Lucas County will take in recyclables, sort and process the materials, and prepare for shipment all in one location, saving employee time and taxpayer money. It will add 25 new jobs in addition to retaining 15 jobs.
The estimated cost of the 60,000-square-foot building, to be located on 15 acres, is $20 million. The county was awarded $7 million from the State of Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program Fund, and a $4 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lucas County Solid Waste Management District funds and other grants and loans will make up the remaining required funds. It is expected to be operational in 2026.
The former landfill was owned by three different property owners, one of whom was the city of Toledo.
“They were all purchased by the county as part of the remediation,” Mr. Shaw said.
Among the items the recycling program accepts are plastics, cardboard, paper, glass bottles and jars, metal containers including aluminum and steel cans, and cartons.
Commissioners also will consider selling property at 3750 Silica Rd. in Sylvania for $253,575 to Sylvania Township, which wants to build a service garage.
Matthew Heyrman, deputy county administrator, said the 14-acre site being sold was purchased by the county years ago as part of a buffer for the closed King Road landfill.
The total size of the parcel owned by the county is 22 acres. The county will retain ownership of the remaining eight acres, Mr. Heyrman said.
“The county has owned this property for a while. It was bought back in the day because it was near the King Road landfill,” he said. “Sylvania Township approached us and wants to build a service garage for their public works. They asked if we could petition off a portion of the property to do that.”
The county took ownership of several parcels of land that surround the old King landfill site, he said.
“This is not a contaminated portion. We’ve done all the environmental due diligence on this property as part of the transfer,” Mr. Heyrman said. “The results showed there was no contamination that is impacting Sylvania Township’s ability to move forward with what they want to do.”
First Published September 9, 2024, 7:14 p.m.
