The village of Coal Grove is one step closer to bringing down the former Carlyle Tile plant.

Officials announced the next step at a meeting for public input Thursday at the Coal Grove Village Hall.

Ken Reindl, senior vice President of SRW Environmental Services, Inc., announced that the application for a $750,000 Clean Ohio assistance grant would be submitted soon and hopefully would be reviewed by the middle of January.

The application had been on display locally for a little more than the legally required 45 days. Reindl said feedback had been good.

“I’ve heard some very favorable comments made in the local press, not only in the print media but in the television media, so it’s very clear that the entire regional community is in favor of this project moving forward,” Reindl said. “So it’s very gratifying to see that.”

The money won’t be enough to remove the buildings at the site along U.S. 52, but will be used for removing materials containing asbestos from the site and to remove the first two feet of soil in the area.

Reindl said he was hopeful that the village’s request would be approved, based on a statement from John McGill, director of the state’s Office of Urban development, which manages The Clean Ohio program, at a recent Coal Grove Village Council meeting.

“He actually pretty much guaranteed that, he said that if the application was complete then he would recommend that it be funded,” Reindl said. “I believe that he made that commitment upfront. He said it was a worthy project, and that he would recommend that it be funded.”

If all goes according to plan, Reindl said he hoped that the project would begin by late February or early March.

Once the environmental problems have been dealt with, marine and transportation service provider McGinnis Inc. will begin to tear down the remaining buildings in the summer of 2006.

McGinnis Inc. has committed to using the site for industrial purposes and to provide intermodal freight services (rail, barge, trucking). Once developed, the McGinnis Inc. business plan will create more than 50 new jobs.

The village was rejected for a $1,761,750 Clean Ohio Revitalization Grant in September to clean up the site because their application had been received one day past the deadline. Mayor Larry McDaniel said it was a mistake of the shipping company that they had used to mail the record company.