DANVILLE, IL (Chambana Today) — The City of Danville has begun environmental cleanup work at the corner of Fairchild and Vermilion streets, a long-vacant property formerly home to First Farmer’s Bank and Fonner’s Dry Cleaners.

City officials said environmental testing found residual dry-cleaning chemicals and petroleum contamination in the soil at levels requiring remediation before redevelopment can move forward.

To address the issue, the city secured approximately $1 million through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Cleanup Grant Program in 2023. The funding will support cleanup efforts in partnership with the EPA.

The remediation project will include excavation of contaminated soil up to 45 feet below ground, additional environmental testing and treatment of any groundwater contamination discovered during the process.

Excavation is expected to begin soon and could take several weeks. Soil and groundwater monitoring, restoration and backfilling work are expected to continue over the coming months.

Rickey Williams Jr. said the cleanup represents an important investment in the city’s future. “This is an important step toward transforming a key corner of our city. While we don’t have a developer in place yet, we’re doing the work now to make this site ready for investment. This location has strong potential, and we fully expect it to attract the kind of commercial development we’ve seen with projects like Sonic and Jimmy John’s.”