FRANKLIN — The city has received $200,000 in federal cleanup grants to deal with the contaminated former Guay’s Garage building and property on South Main Street, which has been a source of problems for city officials for many years.

The neighboring town of Tilton has also received a $200,000 grant to clean up a troubled property, the former Ernie’s Auto Sales 180 East Main St., with the help of U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who held a press conference in Franklin to announce the grants Monday.

Franklin’s site, which has been vandalized frequently over the years and was the location of a recent fire, will have its building leveled. The city hopes to interest a developer in the site, said City Manager Elizabeth Dragon.

“We’re taking a piece of property that has been a drain on the city’s resources over the years and making it into a very attractive site for a new business,” Dragon said.

Tilton plans to make its site into a trail head for the Winnipesaukee River Trail, which has become a popular recreation area since the town’s section of the trail was completed in 2005, said Pat Consentino, who chairs the board of selectmen.

“It is exciting that this grant will allow for the property to be cleaned and repurposed as a trail head,” Consentino said at the ceremony in Franklin Monday.

“Purchase of the property for commercial or other purposes was unlikely due to ongoing concerns about hazardous waste and contaminated soils,” she said.

Tilton’s site is a one-acre site of a former gasoline station, auto repair garage and used car dealership. It is contaminated with hydrocarbons, arsenic, metals and inorganic contaminants. It has been vacant for more than 10 years, “and only marginally occupied before that,” Consentino said.

“The building has been steadily deteriorating and the property had become an eyesore. Mother Nature’s wrecking crew has been eyeing the building for some time now and the timing of this grant couldn’t be better because if we don’t act soon, gravity will.”

Franklin’s site was the site of a fire that was deemed suspicious earlier this summer. The city seized the property several years ago because of $10,000 owed in back taxes by a previous owner, Dragon said, and it since has required repeated police visits because of vandalism.

The city will have costs associated with developing and marketing the property for commercial use, but will gain money when the property is developed and sold.

“It has been quite a challenging site for us,” Dragon said. “It will probably take two years to have it clean and paved over, but we see it as a great place for a restaurant or a coffee shop.”

Both communities have received Brownfield grants from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. A brownfield site is defined as real estate in a community that cannot be expanded, redeveloped or reused without complications from the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and communities around the country cleanup and revitalize brownfields sites. Under the law, the EPA provides financial assistance to eligible communities.

dseufert@newstote.com