Ottawa gets EPA grant to clean up old gas plant property

Part of what made Ottawa the town it is today is industry. As the city looks to develop for the future, they’re now trying to clean up old industrial sites.

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Ottawa a $200,000 grant to look at abandoned industrial sites including property they hope to redevelop as a harbor and amphitheater along the Illinois River. Mayor Bob Eschbach says part of the old Central School property was a gasification plant and may have some contamination. He says they need this taken care of before pursuing new riverfront development.

This is the third Brownfield cleanup grant Ottawa has received since 2008. Previously the city used grant money to clean up the property where Illinois Valley Community College’s Ottawa campus sits now.

Eschbach hopes cleanup at the old Central School property can be done in a year and construction of a harbor and amphitheater starts a few years after that.