The FMC Corp., a former owner and operator of the Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal, will pay for a redevelopment study of the idle rayon factory that was closed nearly three years ago because of pollution violations , an attorney for the company said Wednesday.

The announcement was called "a giant step" toward reuse of the site.

Robert J. Fields said the study will cost about $50,000 and should be completed by mid-December.

It will be done by Mazza Engineering Associates Inc. of Aliquippa, Pa., which did a similar study on an idle Avtex plant in Meadville, Pa., in the late 1980's. About 350 people are employed there now in a number of different manufacturing an service enterprises. About 75 percent of the Meadville plant is redeveloped, Eugene A. Mazza, the firm’s vice president for engineering, said.

The study will include the structure and foundation of each building on the site and the feasibility of using each, he said. Also to be examined will be existing utilities, the availability of public utilities and the road and railroad network within the plant. The economic impact of redeveloping the site, possible uses the plant can accommodate and what sort of modifications would be needed also will be studied.

The study will estimate the cost of modifying the plant site and potential sources of public funding that could be tapped, Mazza said.

The study will be "a road map" that local officials who want to have the site redeveloped can use, he said. "No plan or study by itself is going to make it happen."

The completed study will be given to the Industrial Redevelopment Commission, which is keeping the plant’s redevelopment on the front burner.

Mazza said the Front Royal plant is similar to the Meadville plant and presents many of the same challenges and opportunities. "We had people tell us it wouldn’t work," he said. "I believe we paved the way."

Mazza said it was the happiest day of his life when Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey showed up at a ceremony at the Meadville plant with a check for $500,000.

About a year passed between the study and the first reuse of the Meadville plant, which, unlike the local plant, wasn’t an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, Mazza said.

The study will include the area of the plant east of the railroad tracks. The western part, which includes waste basins, won’t be part of the project, Fields said.

Mazza said there are buildings at the plant that could be used almost immediately if the EPA is satisfied that they are clean.

Fields said FMC has never funded a site redevelopment study before. FMC is undertaking the project because it would be shameful to overlook the site since it has buildings and infrastructure that possibly can be reused.

Community leaders were pleased with the announcement.

"It is another step in the vision we’ve had since visiting Meadville" last year, Brian B. Shull, executive director of the Industrial Development Authority, said.

Front Royal Mayor Stanley W. Brooks Jr. said, "Sometimes just figuring out where to start is the toughest part. It’s probably not good for people to get their hopes too high right now. It’s going to take a little while, but it is very encouraging."

Warren County Board of Supervisors Chairman Staige F. Miller Sr. called the announcement "a giant step" toward the plant’s reuse.

Meryl Christiansen, head of the Friends of the Shenandoah river sounded a more cautious note.

"Not to be negative, but $50,000 won’t do anything but pay a bunch of engineers for a couple months. But it does have the possibility to attract other funds, he said.

Christiansen said he wants groundwater and soil studies to be included in the study.

Amy Barnett, a spokeswoman for the EPA, said the agency has no problem with the project as long as the people working at the site are properly trained.

She said the study may speed up redevelopment efforts, but it’s not likely to speed up the cleanup.

Fields said FMC is studying possible use of warehouses at the site for its products.

Avtex bankruptcy trustee Anthony Murray Jr. has estimated that the sale of the usable buildings, based on about $40 per square foot, would raise more that $50 million.