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City seeks state brownfields funding with Midline priority-investment designation
Summary
City and site-fund representatives asked council to designate roughly 89 acres on the Near East Side as a priority investment area under Ohio brownfield rules, making the area eligible to apply for up to $10 million in state remediation funds; staff said no additional city dollars are requested for the designation.
City and site-fund officials asked the council to approve an emergency ordinance designating parcels in the Midland (Midline) Development Area as a priority investment area under Ohio Department of Development brownfield guidance.
A site-fund representative said the Midline Development Area comprises roughly 89 acres and 52 parcels along the North Polk Southern rail corridor from Euclid Avenue to the Opportunity Corridor. The requested designation would allow the city to apply for up to $10,000,000 in state remediation grant funding that otherwise may be limited to annual $1,000,000 allocations.
John Fosbender (introduced in the presentation as the Brownfields manager) and site-fund staff explained many of these parcels have sat idle for decades due to environmental contamination and that the designation is intended to make larger rounds of funding available to remediate sites and enable good-job industrial redevelopment.
Presenters and staff emphasized the request is only for a statutory designation and would not obligate the city to additional operating dollars; council members asked for a ward-by-ward list of sites the fund already works on and for follow-up information on specific parcels and timelines.
The ordinance language read in committee cites Ohio Revised Code section 122.161 as the enabling statutory authority for the designation.
