Port Authority Accepts $600K EPA Grant
VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Development agenices are preparing to move forward on assessment of multiple brownfield sites in Trumbull County in preparation for their eventual remediation, using funds provided though a federal grant announced this spring.
The Western Reserve Port Authority voted Wednesday to approve a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to accept a $600,000 brownfield assessment coalition grant. The grant would fund activities proposed by the Trumbull County Brownfield Coalition to conduct environmental assessments and remediation planning activities.
Additionally, the port authority board approved environmental services agreements with the Cleveland office of URS Corp. and Brownfield Restoration Group, Cleveland, to perform assessments. The port authority authorized its executive director, Rose Ann DeLeon, to execute both agreements pending review of legal counsel.
The port authority is aiming to perform assessments for about 35 properties in the county using the funds provided under the three-year grant, said Sarah Lown, senior economic development manager. “We know about 15 are good to go and then we’re looking at additional ones as they arise,” she said.
The assessments will mainly focus on the former Delphi complex in Warren, sites along the Mahoning River and the Golden Triangle area. Lown declined to provide specifics regarding sites being considered. Once the assessments are performed, the port authority and the coalition could pursue funds to perform remediation work at the sites.
“We want to do a variety” of properties, she said. That includes buildings with asbestos that, if abated, would bring down redevelopment costs for the properties. “That’s what we would consider a nice piece of low-hanging fruit,” she said.
EPA “strongly suggested” the port authority look at two firms to perform the assessments, Lown said.
“Some of the projects can be drawn out,” DeLeon said. “This is a three-year grant and that sounds like a really long time, but when you get into these projects it’s not. So it’s just a way of assuring that you work through the grant.”
The airport's dreictor of aviation, Dan Dickten, reported that Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport had 8,273 passengers in August, and a total of 63,992 passengers yea-to-date. The airport is on track for 90,000 total passengers for the year, he said.
Jim Pirko, president of YNGAir Partners, a community group formed to support activities at the airport, informed the port authority board that it has secured 501 (c) 3 tax exempt nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service.
“This was the one critical thing we needed for a fundraising strategy,” Pirko said. The status permits YNGAir Partners to pursue foundation funds. “We already have some prospects we’re going after,” he said.
One of the primary missions of the organization would be to raise matching funds for the community’s Small Community Air Service Development Grant to be used to help secure additional service at the airport. The airport has to come up with $420,000 to match the $780,000 being provided by the federal government.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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