MAHONING VALLEY Officials discuss funding for brownfield cleanup

Loans may be available by late 2005.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Members of the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments are hoping to make some virtually unusable land in the Mahoning Valley valuable again.
Members of Eastgate and the Mahoning County commissioners' special project department met in a brainstorming session Tuesday, focused on obtaining money to clean up area brownfields. The group hopes to obtain a federal grant for a revolving loan program to clean up the sites.
Brownfields are defined as abandoned or underutilized industrial and commercial properties whose redevelopment is hindered by either actual or perceived contamination.
Struthers Mayor Dan Mamula said about 7,000 acres of brownfields are located in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. He said the average cost to clean up one such acre is about $200,000.
EPA fund
Mamula said the Environmental Protection Agency's Revolving Loan Fund provides $1 million in the form of a grant to qualifying government entities. Those government bodies can then offer low-interest loans to qualified borrowers to assist in cleaning up brownfield areas.
Eastgate representatives said Mahoning and Trumbull counties are hoping to apply for the funds as a joint venture and seeking a $2 million grant. The maximum loan amount for one project will be $200,000.
The group hopes that if the federal grant is awarded, the loans will be available by late 2005, but several details must still be worked out.
Kim Mascarella, Eastgate's director of environmental planning, said the federal government requires a 20 percent match from the applying government body. She said Eastgate members are trying to have that matching-funds requirement waived. If the requirement cannot be waived, she said, the $400,000 will have to come from participating communities.
Mascarella also said Eastgate does not have the legal ability to manage the revolving loan funds, therefore another entity is needed to serve as the body in charge of administering the loan funds.
Port Authority
Eastgate members plan to ask the Western Reserve Port Authority at a December meeting to serve as the sponsor for the grant application and loan allocation. Eastgate members said the move would afford the port authority the opportunity to expand into other areas and prove beneficial to the airport.
Should the port authority decide against sponsoring the program, Mascarella said, Eastgate could apply for the actual grant. The Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., however, would be used to administer the loans.
Donald French, MVEDC executive director, said cleaning up any contaminated sites will benefit the entire area.
"All of this is going to be for cleaning up a site that would otherwise be unusable. Anything we can do to help clean up those areas is going to be good for the community as a whole," he said.
jgoodwin@vindy.com