In 2024, the City of Middletown set forth plans to demolish and remediate the former Middletown Paperboard factory located at 427 Vanderveer St. This factory, abandoned for several years, had experienced a structural fire in 2020 and already undergone a partial demolition effort. Funding for this demolition project was made possible through a generous $3 million grant provided by the Butler County Commissioners utilizing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, in addition to a $1.5 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development for brownfield remediation. The goal of demolition was to eliminate safety risks, reduce the ongoing blight, and prepare the site for new industrial and commercial development.
Through this demolition process, a large stockpile of crushed aggregate was generated through the concrete crushing process of designated non-impacted concrete and stonework features of the former facility. This aggregate, or gravel, has been processed to 304 Ohio Department of Transportation specifications, and has been tested and approved by the City’s environmental consultants for Ohio EPA Voluntary Action (VAP) clean-up standards for commercial and/or industrial use, as well as various public infrastructure applications. Moreover, the material meets VAP standards for residential land use as well. This pile of gravel, while temporary in nature, has provided the City of Middletown with a unique opportunity to reduce upcoming public infrastructure costs, and allow for an environmentally friendly way to recycle the former building materials. The recycled gravel is approximately 33,000 cubic yards, which would equate to roughly 3,000-4,000 dump truck loads!
The next steps for the overall site are to complete the soil remediation and properly grade and seed the site. This process will involve removing impacted soils, level the existing grade to engineered elevations to promote drainage, spread imported soil and grass seed across the top of site, remove the decaying perimeter fence and vegetation, and reconstruct a new fence around most of the site. As for the gravel pile, approximately 30-40% of the pile will be utilized in an upcoming wellfield project by our Public Works Department. The remaining gravel will be utilized in an ongoing basis by our Public Works department, and provided as a construction incentive to the future end users of the site.
Once site grading and remediation is complete, the City will receive a “No Further Action” (NFA) letter from the VAP Certified Professional from Burgess & Niple and submit the NFA to Ohio EPA and request a Covenant Not to Sue from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which certifies the site is ready for new commercial/industrial development. Upon receiving clearance from the EPA, the City will turn the focus of the site onto marketing for business attraction efforts, transforming this vacant lot into a new hub for industrial or commercial businesses that can create stable, in-demand jobs, and reinvest into our community. The site is approximately 12 acres in size, and is within the I-2 General Industrial zoning classification.