The former American Viscose plant in the Roanoke Industrial Center, located on Ninth Street Southeast, is seen Jan. 27. A redevelopment plan for the area now has the governmental approval to move forward.
It was known as the pit, a steel cylindrical tank that extended 7 feet into the ground and could hold 1,900 gallons of toxic chemicals.
From roughly 1985 to 2007, a chemical company stored its hazardous waste there. The pit is gone now, removed as environmental regulators began an investigation that led to Chemsolv Inc. being cited in 2014 for improperly storing volatile organic compounds.
But concerns about contamination at the southeast Roanoke site remain today — and could create complications for Riverdale, an ambitious…
