The initial plan was to develop a riverfront park on 11 acres of land adjacent to the Center Street Boat Landing. Now, city officials say the plans may be adjusted a bit to include more offerings to attract a crowd — such as a restaurant, shops and possibly even apartments.

Ironton Economic Development Director Bill Dickens said, initially, plans only included a riverfront park because the roughly 11 acres of land is in the 100-year flood plain. Land in the flood plain cannot have permanent structures such as homes or businesses.

But Dickens said the company conducting the remediation, Allard Construction, of South Webster, has been able to remove enough contaminated soil and refill with clean dirt to the point that approximately four acres will be one foot above the 100-year flood plain and thus make it suitable for commercial ventures.

“We had a conference call last week in preparation for a meeting with a large company,” Dickens said. The meeting, he said, will be later this month to discuss the idea of redeveloping the site with a building that would have a restaurant and shops on the ground floor and apartments on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Dickens said the remediation of the site is “slightly ahead of schedule.”

Thus far, 5,610 tons of contaminated soils have been removed from the site and taken to the required landfill. The city’s environmental engineering consultant, Superior Environmental Corp., estimates that only 50 additional tons will need to be removed. The 5,610 tons are being replaced with 8,000 tons of clean material that has been brought in for backfilling and regrading. Dickens said the backfilling is being delayed right now pending approval of the final grade plan by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

“We have been told that grade plan approval will be forthcoming within five weeks,” Dickens said in a prepared statement.

The need for a large city park has been a subject of discussion for many years.

The idea moved closer to reality in 2007 when State Sen. Tom Neihaus successfully got a $150,000 line item included in the state budget to pay for the purchase of four acres of once industrial land that was sandwiched between two tracts of land the city already owned.

The city then successfully got other grant funding to pay for an assessment of the property and to pay for the remediation.

Plans also call for walking and biking paths, picnic shelters and restrooms.