TRUMBULL COUNTY, OH - It's a common sight across Trumbull County - abandoned gas stations - some littered with old tires, trash and overgrown weeds. But with a grant from the U.S. EPA the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership is looking to renovate the sites for new development.

Five abandoned gas stations are all a part of the partnership's request for $2.6 million to do a complete overhaul.

  • 2855 Tod Ave. SW, Warren
  • 3624 Main St., Mineral Ridge
  • 165 E. Main St., West Farmington
  • 2904 Belmont Ave., Liberty 
  • 1426 Niles Road SE, Warren

“At all of them there are some tanks left behind so the tanks need to be dug out…at most of the sites there is also some building demolition that needs to happen because the buildings have been abandoned as well,” Gillian Costantino, the Environmental Programs Coordinator at the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership said. 

All of the sites were foreclosed on and are now owned by the Trumbull County Landbank. Some of the areas haven't seen a business in more than a decade.

The biggest task in the clean up is removing the contamination that sits deep in the soil from the gasoline oils that may have spilled from those tanks.

“For people who have had to live next to these for a long time it's beneficial for them just for their pride in their community but also their not directly up against this contamination any longer, their no more risk to them for contact with the soil,” Costantino said. 

The partnership is hoping to turn the lots into a clean slate. Because of the contamination they can never be residential but can welcome a new opportunity.

“We want these sites to be ready for development of retail or something like that again,” Costantino said. “We want them to be shovel ready pretty much.”

The partnership will hold two public meetings on Jan. 7 at the Warren Public Library to give more information to residents about the cleanup. The first will be held at noon, the second of the day will be held at 6p.m.

The grant application will be submitted in January and could take months for approval.