Local

Mahoning County organizations ask state for $7 million for brownfield projects

By Kelcey Norris Mahoning Matters

December 14, 2023 2:11 PM

A proposed athletic complex at the site of the rundown South High Field House in Youngstown is among 11 local projects that would benefit from $7 million in proposed brownfield funding. Mahoning County Land Bank

The Mahoning County Land Bank and Western Reserve Port Authority are applying for grants to financially support redeveloping brownfield sites throughout the county.

Defining brownfield

A brownfield site is an underdeveloped or underutilized piece of property that needs significant work to be turned back into usable spaces for businesses or recreation.

A lot of brownfield sites have concerns about contamination and need to be properly tested, according to the Environmental Law Institute.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said there are about 450,000 of these sites in the country and when they sit idle, it can be harmful to the environment.

Mahoning County brownfield sites

Debora Flora, executive director of the Land Bank, explained they’ve applied for state grants totaling $7 million.

The money will be used for 11 brownfield cleanup initiatives across Mahoning County, including nine in Youngstown.

One of the projects involves building Valley Christian School’s new sports complex at the Field House site at South High School.

The school’s already started raising money for the project.

According to the Land Bank, the state brownfield funding they’ve applied for would reimburse the City of Youngstown for its assistance to the work.

“The overarching aim of these initiatives is to comprehensively clean up, environmentally assess and prepare multiple sites across the county for redevelopment,” said Flora. “We’re very confident about funding for work at the Field House because there is a strong likelihood of local matching funds. We’re also very excited about the strong and growing coalition in support of these projects as a group.”

Another site is the 25,000-square-foot building housing the monthly gathering of artisans for the Youngstown Flea.

Located in downtown Youngstown, it’s actually a former industrial steel manufacturing site.

There are local partners involved in making the applications, including the municipal governments of Youngstown, Campbell and Sebring, as well as Youngstown City School District and the Economic Action Group.

Here are the five remediation and demolition sites supported by the local partners:

Valley Christian Schools’ South High School Field House, 1840 Erie St., Youngstown.
Youngstown Flea Building, 365 E. Federal St., Youngstown.
Former Auto Parts Store, 1034 Wick Ave., Youngstown.
Silver’s Vogue Shop Building, 27 W. Federal St., Youngstown.
Site of former McGuffey Mall, McGuffey Road at Garland Avenue, Youngstown.

Assistance for environmental assessments is also proposed for these six sites:

JSI Properties, Inc. (former manufacturing building), 221 W. Georgia Ave., Sebring.
City Trust and Savings site, 3370 Wilson Ave., Campbell.
Hayes Elementary School site, 1616 Ford Ave., Youngstown.
Adams Junior High School site, 2537 Cooper St., Youngstown.
Princeton School site, 2546 Hillman St., Youngstown.
West Elementary School site, North Hazelwood Avenue in Youngstown.

The brownfield cleanup requests are separate from a recent multi-county application for $155 million to the state’s Appalachian Community Grant Program.

Flora noted that the Youngstown Flea and the Silver Building projects appear in both applications for different reasons, related to project phases.