The city is taking the next step in cleaning up the former Ogilvie Foods plant site off North Pleasant Street.

The city has hired a Pittsford engineering firm, Lu Engineers, as a consultant to coordinate a $200,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to remove contaminated soil from the site. Kenneth A. Mix, the city’s planning and community development coordinator, said Lu Engineers will oversee the bid process to find a company to remove the soil. Lu will be paid $58,095 for its role in the project.

A 13,000-gallon underground petroleum tank remains on the east side of the site at 148 N. Pleasant St., but the location of a possible second one has not been determined, Mr. Mix said.

It will be up to Lu Engineers to coordinate the tanks’ removal, Mr. Mix said. That work will take place next year. Once all of the contamination is gone, the site will be shovel-ready for development.

The city and Neighbors of Watertown Inc. have hoped to convert the property into a subdivision for about 18 houses, but they haven’t found state funding to finance the project. City officials said in April that the project might have to be scaled back to about five houses that would be built along North Pleasant Street and California Avenue.

But exactly what, if anything, will end up being built remains a question, Mr. Mix said. Local officials will start looking at potential development after the site is cleaned up, he said.

On a related note, the city is entering an agreement with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to apply for the site to be designated under the Brownfield Cleanup Program. As such, the city would not be held liable if any other contamination is found at the site in the future, Mr. Mix said.

To get the site ready for redevelopment, the food plant’s foundation and other debris must be removed. The Watertown City Council appropriated $400,000 in the 2011-12 budget to pay for that work.

For years, residents in the neighborhood have called the site an eyesore. They generally have supported turning it into a residential neighborhood.