MOUNT VERNON — At its meeting Monday, Mount Vernon City Council adopted an ordinance approving an annexation agreement between the city and Clinton Township for the 44 acres known as the American National Can property. Council simply approved the agreement to annex;
the actual annexation process will follow.
Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis said that of the 44 acres, about 27.5 have been established for redevelopment. The remaining acreage consists of flood plain, dikeway and the Madison Street drainage ditch. Of the 27.5 acres, 8 acres is in concrete.
The goal is to have the site cleaned up by 2011. The city will first do an assessment of the area to determine what needs to be done, then will apply for Clean Ohio funds for the actual cleanup.
“When we go to apply for Clean Ohio funds, we have to have somebody who can put up matching money,” said Mavis.
That industrial partner, he said, will be Mark Schuetz of Blight to Bright LLC. According to Mavis, Schuetz is interested in acquiring the 8 acres of concrete and erecting solar panels, with the ultimate goal of generating electricity. However, solar panels cannot be erected without first cleaning up the site.
The owner of the 44 acres is located in Chicago. At this point, Mavis said, there is no attempt to have a change of ownership. Once the site is cleaned up, the city and Blight to Bright would expect to take ownership.
