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WATERTOWN, N.Y. — With an estimated 7,000 tons of shock rock covering the 5-acre former Ogilvie site between North Pleasant Street and California Avenue, Jefferson County has shown interest in hauling the site debris out, possibly as early as next week.

The proposed development of 18 to 19 homes by Neighbors of Watertown, along with a paved road, would occupy the site which has been vacant since the mid ‘90s when Ogilvie Foods closed and its existing buildings were demolished.

“It is a win-win situation,” Eugene P. Hayes, the city’s Department of Public Works superintendent said. “I have no use for that much of it, I can’t really sell it or anything like that.

James L. Lawrence Jr., Jefferson County highway superintendent, said the county would agree to take the rock off the city’s hands after a discussion with Hayes.

“We made the offer that would supply the excavator trucks and truck it out there because we possibly could have a use for it,” Lawrence said. “Possibly, being a short week and a holiday week, I’ve got a lot of vacations going on, we would start next week.”

As Hayes noted the city would be clearing “some” rock from the site, along with the county, other businesses have also expressed interest in hauling away the rock.

“The county has expressed an interest, Purcell Construction has expressed an interest,”City Manager Mary M. Corriveau said Thursday at a Watertown Local Development Corp. meeting “It’s good for us because we don’t have to haul it to dispose of it.”

She continued, “The bigger concern is what we’re going to find underneath it.”

Corriveau said it is possible that there are concrete slabs and foundations from the former buildings, which could throw a curve ball into the excavation process.

“Once you get to the clay, obviously, you quit going,” Hayes said. “Other areas you’re going to get down to maybe, we think, some concrete foundations. At that point, you’re just going to scrape it clean.”

Hayes said some of the site land could potentially be contaminated from old petroleum tanks.

“There’s areas up there with potential contaminated fuel tanks where they have been removed and there might be a little contamination on the ground,” he said. “So we don’t want anybody around that because we’ll go in there and pick that up ourselves."

Before Neighbors of Watertown could begin work on the site, Corriveau said it first would have to obtain subdivision approval for each of the proposed lots.

The city manager said the cost of building a new road wouldn’t come cheap either.

“Building a road, it’s 620 feet long, it’s about $1 million,” she said. “That includes our water and sewer.”

She added, “It’s should be a regional effort.”

The project is slated to take an estimated 2 to 3 years to build, according to Neighbors of Watertown Executive Director Gary C. Beasley.