Cleanup application submitted for key parcel in the Vacuum Oil brownfield

The owner of a polluted parcel within the Vacuum Oil site has taken an initial step to begin the cleanup process.

Through its environmental consultant, ExxonMobil has submitted an application to enroll 5 Flint St. in New York state's Brownfield Cleanup Program. The program provides developers with tax incentives for cleaning up sites where contamination from previous uses would otherwise prevent development or reuse of the properties.

For over 15 years, 5 Flint St. has languished in development limbo, with the decrepit abandoned warehouse that occupies much of the parcel looming over the southwest Rochester neighborhood.

ExxonMobil bought the site and the adjacent 15 Flint St. property from DHD Ventures after the developer's lender moved to foreclose on the property. Previously, a court ruled that ExxonMobil bore partial responsibility for cleaning up the site, since through various mergers and acquisitions, ExxonMobil is Vacuum Oil's successor corporation.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said the company is working to progress cleanup of the site, and that it is identifying parties who can develop the site and return it to a use that benefits the community.

The cleanup program application includes pages and pages of technical data, but it also lays out the cleanup approach that ExxonMobil and its environmental consultant aim to pursue.

They recommend preparing the site for commercial and residential use by removing contaminated soil, clearing heavy vegetation, monitoring groundwater contamination, and performing various kinds of site work.

The application also says demolition of the warehouse is anticipated this coming spring.

The city of Rochester owns roughly 18 parcels adjacent to 5 Flint St., and it plans to clean them up for future development as well.

The application and supporting documents can be viewed at Phillis Wheatley Library, 33 Dr. Samuel McCree Way, or through the DEC's website .

The state Department of Environmental Conservation is accepting comments through Oct. 5 on the application.

Comments can be submitted to the DEC by mailing Charlotte Theobald, the site's project manager, at 6274 East Avon-Lima Road, Avon, NY, 14414; by emailing charlotte.theobald@dec.ny.gov ; or by calling (585) 226-5354.