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Goldsboro staff map priority brownfields for phase‑2 testing, flag city‑owned Cottonseed Oil site
Summary
Consultants recommended phase‑2 environmental testing on four priority properties — including a former dry cleaner at 312 N. Center Street — and discussed a larger city‑owned former Goldsboro Cottonseed Oil property that will need phased testing and reuse planning. The $500,000 Brownfields assessment grant expires Sept. 30, 2028.
Qualified environmental professionals from Mid Atlantic Associates updated the council on work under a Brownfields Assessment Grant awarded to the City of Goldsboro in September 2024. The grant funds inventories, Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments (ESAs), community outreach and reuse planning. Mid Atlantic said it has expended about 12% of the $500,000 grant to date and completed seven Phase 1 ESAs.
Consultant Jessica Single and project staff recommended advancing four properties to Phase 2 testing: a former dry-cleaner at 312 North Center Street (owner willing to sell and redevelop), warehouse property at 800/801 North James Street, a multi-parcel site at 423 South James (former automotive and funeral-use parcels), and 315/313 North Center (adjacent to the dry cleaner parcel). The consultants said Phase 2 sampling is estimated roughly at $100,000–$125,000 per site depending on complexity, while Phase 1 surveys typically cost $2,000–$4,000.
The team highlighted a city-owned, multi-parcel former Goldsboro Cottonseed Oil and Wayne Agricultural Works property as a larger, complex site where the question is not whether to conduct Phase 2 testing but how — selectively or across the full parcel — depending on reuse goals. The consultants noted historical industrial operations and on-site indicators (e.g., pits) that suggest further assessment is warranted.
Consultants also described funding leverage opportunities: if Phase 2 finds dry-cleaning solvent contamination at the Center Street site, the team could petition the state Dry Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act (DISCA) program, which can pay a large share (consultants cited state program coverage up to $1 million) to perform cleanup — generating leveraged cleanup funds.
Council members discussed target areas (downtown Center Street, the Union Station quarter, and the North James industrial corridor) and asked for the consultant’s inventory so council could suggest additional candidate properties. Staff said Phase 2 work would be prioritized for sites with private redevelopment potential and property owners who are motivated to sell or redevelop so the grant yields the highest leveraged outcome.
