Area government leaders are getting serious about purchasing the former Farmland Industries Inc. fertilizer plant.

Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones told the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors Wednesday that the county was in the process of hiring a Georgia-based consulting firm to review the 467-acre site along Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence.

“I think it gets us a step closer to the negotiating table,” Jones said after the meeting, which was closed to the public.

He said the County Commission would hire Mactec Inc., a consulting company that has expertise in evaluating environmentally-blighted pieces of property. The county is interested in determining the cost of cleaning the site, which has been damaged by a series of nitrate spills, so it can be used as an industrial park.

Jones said he expected the company to begin touring the site in about 30 days. He estimated the study would cost less than $5,000.

If the report shows the project to be feasible, Jones said county and city of Lawrence officials may start negotiations to purchase the property from Kansas City, Mo.-based Farmland in the next six months.

Larry McElwain, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, said board members were supportive of the plan, although they did not take an official position on the issue at the meeting.

“We’re supportive of the direction that this is moving,” McElwain said. “The huge thing about that property is that it is a gateway to our community, and now we might have some ability to change the way that gateway looks.

“As long as it sits there the way it is today, it is not an attribute to our community.”

The plant, which began operation in 1954, closed in May 2001 amid a downturn in the U.S. fertilizer industry. In May 2002, Farmland filed for bankruptcy protection and the Lawrence plant has been up for sale since.

Though Farmland has not announced what it thinks is a fair price for the property, it recently provided a cost estimate for its cleanup.

In a December court filing, the company agreed to put $4.8 million into a trust account to complete a state-ordered cleanup of the site. The court approved the concept of a trust fund, but ordered Farmland to negotiate the amount with the Kansas Department of Environment after officials with the agency told the court the amount was too low.

Bill Anderson, a KDHE attorney, said those negotiations were under way and must be completed by Feb. 24 or the court would settle the amount.

“We don’t have a firm figure that we have agreed on yet, but we’re getting closer,” Anderson said. He declined to say what amount the department is seeking.

Attempts to reach a Farmland official for comment were unsuccessful.

Jones said he also was uncertain whether $4.8 million would be enough to adequately clean the property. He said he continued to be concerned that Farmland would sell its clean pieces of property while the contaminated portions would be left vacant.

It has been estimated that the property could provide about 300 acres that could be used for industrial development, in addition to an area for a limited expansion of the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds, which is immediately west of the site.

Jones said the need for additional industrial space in the county may make the project feasible in the eyes of taxpayers, who would be asked to fund the purchase.

“I think the public would view the East Hills Business Park as a success and this could be like that,” Jones said. “And I think the public would understand that we need good jobs and that we have to be aggressive to attract them.

“But whether this is a good deal or not still depends on a lot of details we don’t know. I don’t know yet whether I like the deal.”