City officials said they are undecided whether the 11-acre Lupton Mill site will be a park or be developed after it is cleaned up.
Stacy Richardson, chief of staff to the mayor, said, "Our first priority is to get it cleaned up. The other discussions can happen later."
The City Council is set to vote on Jan.
29 on a long-awaited contract to clean up the Lupton Mill site.
Justin Holland, public works administrator, said the work should begin about 60 days later and take around eight months to complete.
Bill Payne, city engineer, said some of the rubble from the remainder of old buildings at the site will be broken up and used as part of the cap at two locations over some contaminated material.
He said there will be certain limitations on what can be put over the capped areas.
Ms. Richardson said the county also gained an interest to the property, but is giving that up to the city.
The contract with Wright Brothers of Charleston, Tn., is for $1,676,744, with a contingency of $150,000.
It calls for the firm to complete the demolition of remnants of buildings remaining at the site along Mercer Street.
The site will be "rubblized" and then material will be brought in to cap it. The contract says some of the fill will come from a soil stockpile at Amnicola Highway at Dupont Parkway. Other fill is to come from the city's Sewage Treatment Plant on Moccasin Bend.
The cap will be topped with straw.
The current fence will be replaced with a 2,005-foot-long fence on the south side of the property. There will be a new five-foot chain link fence along the middle of the driveway on the north side.
Erosion controls will be put into place.
The city gained control of the site after the R.L. Stowe Mill closed and did not pay the property taxes.
City officials earlier pledged to clean up the site, but said it was a complicated, lengthy process to turn the brownfield into a greenfield.
Neighbors hired a PR firm and held a press conference to condemn the perceived inaction. They said it was an eyesore and was attracting rodents, mosquitoes and other pests.