Clean Up of Former Citgo Property Downtown Continues

The Village of Palatine Monday authorized $39,400 to continue environmental clean-up work at the corner of Plum Grove and Palatine Road, where the former Citgo gas station was located. 

The property at 5 W. Palatine Road is .37 acres and cost the village $1.2 million to purchase back in 2011. Though underground storage tanks have been removed, the area is still in need of environmental consulting to ensure contaminants have been eliminated. 

"We entered into a program to abate contamination on the property, and now we have additional monitoring. We hope to get a letter of full abatement in about a year," said Mike Jacobs, deputy village manager. 

And until that letter comes, the property itself must remain vacant, and undeveloped. 

"We acquired the property as part of the road project, we are hoping by the end of 2013, it is cleared by the state EPA, saying that it is clean and we can go from there," Jacobs said. 

Going from there, could mean a variety of things. 

"There have been inquiries on the property, but we can't make any moves until we know it's fully abated. It could ultimately become many things. Partnering with adjacent commercial/retail properties, a parking lot, commercial or even a public-purpose use are among the possibilities," Jacobs said. 

When the purchase of the property was made in 2011, $450,000 of the $1.2 million purchase price was placed in escrow and is earmarked to assist in environmental clean-up costs. 

The underground storage tanks were removed and the gas station building itself was demolished in December of 2011. 

Village officials have said that 85 percent of the total cost of clean-up will be reimbursed by the Illinois EPA.