After being left to fester for more than three decades, there’s finally a plan to clean up 35 acres of polluted land in a historically Black community near the heart of downtown Greenville.

State environmental regulators published a decision in April that lays out the remediation for the property, known as the Bramlett Road Site, which has been polluted by coal tar for decades.

The site — which runs alongside the Swamp Rabbit Trail west of Unity Park — includes railyards, a landfill, vacant property, wetlands and a portion of an elementary school’s parking lot.

Now a formal oversight mechanism must be established, but there's still a long road ahead until cleanup is achieved.