City officials hope to have the former Ogilvie Foods plant site off North Pleasant Street cleaned up and ready for development by the end of the year.

The Planning Department soon will look for a consultant to coordinate a $200,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant to remove contaminated soil from the site. The consultant will oversee the bid process to find a company to remove the soil.

The city and Neighbors of Watertown Inc. have hoped to convert the site 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.

"At this point, there's not a big rush to get it redeveloped," said Kenneth A. Mix, the city's planning and community development coordinator.

Mr. Mix said that finding money to pay for the street and other infrastructure work might be a sticking point for the 18-house subdivision.

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. A 13,000-gallon fuel tank also has to be removed.

Gary C. Beasley, executive director of Neighbors, said he hopes all of that work will make the site "shovel ready." Mr. Beasley still hasn't given up getting funding for the project.

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