Council OKs up to $5,000 to update environmental review for 312 East Thompson Street

The Lebanon City Council voted to appropriate up to $5,000 from the city’s food and beverage fund to update a Phase I environmental assessment and apply for a site status letter for 312 East Thompson Street.

Derek Warren, a city staff member who presented the item, said the city acquired the former electrochemical/tube forming property next to Adnor Longley Park and wants to clear the site for future park use. “I’m here to ask for money…we are gonna clean it up,” Warren said during the March 10 meeting.

Warren told the council a Phase I and Phase II environmental review were performed in 2020 under an EPA Brownfields grant, and the city has already spent about $45,000 on testing. He said Phase II work discovered a buried fuel oil tank that was removed as part of the earlier work and that the Phase I update will allow the city to apply for a site status letter from IDEM confirming no further agency action is required.

Warren estimated the Phase I update and site-status application will cost roughly $3,900 and requested a $5,000 appropriation not to exceed that amount to cover project meetings and filings. The council moved and seconded a motion to approve the appropriation, and the motion passed with members voting in favor.

The approval authorizes staff to complete the Phase I update and seek the site status letter; council members said the work will help expand park footprint and remove an eyesore adjacent to Adnor Longley Park. The city will solicit demolition quotes after the status letter is in hand, Warren said.