COAL GROVE - SRW Environmental Services Inc. and the Village of Coal Grove will resubmit an application to the Ohio Department of Development for funding to study the Carlyle Tile site.

The Clean Ohio grant application will be adjusted because the ODD wants SRW to expand the scope of the ground testing in Phase 2, said Ken Reindl, senior vice president of SRW, an environmental engineering and consulting firm from Milford.

The new application will not be much different from the previous one that requested approximately $80,000 in funding. However, it will request additional funding to allow SRW to take more samples from the property and fully investigate any contaminated material that may be found, he said.

SRW, which has been doing all work at no cost to the village, completed earlier this year Phase 1 testing that allowed the company to prepare the application.

If funded, Phase 2

will include soil and ground water testing to determine if any contamination is present on the property, Reindl said.

If any contamination is found, the village can then apply for up to $3 million for Phase 3, which would include demolition and environmental cleanup.

Reindl said he anticipates that some level of contamination will be found, but whether it is enough to constitute funding for removal is still unknown.

Mayor Tom McKnight said he is still very optimistic that the project will be funded. He said he was told by the ODD "that this is the exact type of project that Clean Ohio was created for."

"I am awfully glad the ODD was up front with us from a funding standpoint for Phase 2," McKnight said. "If we had got funded with an insufficient amount of money, I do not know where we would go for the rest. This was really a blessing in disguise."

The application must be readvertised and given another public hearing. SRW is still determining the additional amount of funding for which to apply, but should have the application submitted to the state by the end of July, Reindl said.

Typically, the ODD takes 30 days to review the application and SRW could begin the 60-day project within two weeks of approval. It will probably be October before any site work begins, Reindl said.

The project was originally proposed last fall, but the village council was hesitant until it was assured that the village would not be liable.

The ODD administers about $50 million in Clean Ohio Revitalization Funds for restoring former industrial sites each year. Gov. Bob Taft created the program in 2000.

Carlyle Tile opened in 1925 and shut down in 1978. McGinnis, Inc. currently owns the 28-acre property, located at 922 Pike Street. It has been used by McGinnis for storage since it purchased the land in 1999.