Ottawa Mayor Dan Aussem felt good the other day when he signed land sale documents for the Ottawa YMCA to acquire the former Central School track. The community center project that’s planned there has been talked about for years. Aussem says the environmental cleanup has taken a long time and that was most frustrating to him.
Nicor Gas and ComEd are paying for the removal of coal tar at the site. From 1855 to some time in the 1900s, a company that is a predecessor to both was on the site using coal to make gas. The process left the carcinogenic coal tar behind. The first coal tar cleanup there began in the late 1990s.
Aussem says the project will spur development along the north side of the Illinois River.