COLUMBUS — Cincinnati and three neighboring communities are on a short list of Ohio cities likely to get state money to clean up polluted industrial sites.

        It will take legislators months to pass a plan that will divvy up a new, $200 million fund created to help revive dirty and abandoned urban properties called brownfields.

POLLUTED SITES

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency lists more than 1,600 places where hazardous chemicals are known or suspected to be leaking into the ground, water or air. Here are the numbers of Greater Cincinnati sites listed by county in the state's database.  • Hamilton County: 133  • Butler County: 31  • Warren County: 11  • Clermont County: 9

        But Cincinnati, Sharonville, Lockland, Hamilton and 13 other cities already are strong contenders for the cash, according to an internal report the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency prepared months ago.

        “(They) are well poised to apply the bond fund money to actual projects when it is made available,” the report states.

        Competition among cities for the money, part of a $400 million bond issue voters approved, is expected to be high next year. There are over 1,600 “brown” properties statewide that businesses and builders are afraid to touch.

        A brownfield can be anything from a gas station with a leaky underground fuel tank to an old factory that used hazardous chemicals. They are tough to sell because federal laws can force anyone connected to the land to pay expensive cleanup costs.

        That means big problems for urban planners. Eager to lure businesses and jobs back to core neighborhoods, cities have struggled to find the millions needed to clean and clear these sites.

CLEANUP CONTENDERS

An Ohio EPA report lists 17 communities as strong candidates for grants from a new $200 million fund intended to help clean up and redevelop, polluted properties. In each case, these cities already have had some experience at redeveloping these sites, often called brownfields. Here are the cities:  1. Cincinnati  2. Sharonville  3. Lockland  4. Hamilton  5. Akron  6. Barberton  7. Cleveland  8. Columbus  9. Dayton  10. Elyria  11. Girard  12. Lima  13. New Boston  14. Springfield  15. Toledo  16. Youngstown  17. Warren

        The 17 cities listed by Ohio EPA stand apart because they have some experience and success with redevelopment efforts. All have tapped a variety of federal and state grants to kick-start their own cleanups.

        The named cities include the state's population centers: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Akron, Toledo and Youngstown. Also listed are smaller communities like New Boston, Lima, Warren, Girard and Elyria.

        Melissa Johnson, Hamilton's brownfields program manager, was happy to hear her city's efforts to obtain $900,000 in federal cleanup funds had been noticed. She hopes to get another $300,000 to $2 million to help demolish an abandoned stove factory in the eastern half of the city.

        “We may have a little bit of a lead on other communities that haven't necessarily set up a program,” Ms. Johnson said.

        In Lockland, village officials used federal and state grants to create a new industrial park where a massive box factory once stood. Smaller businesses that have since located there have created more than 100 new jobs.

        Dick Melfi, the village administrator, is optimistic state officials will weigh Lockland's track record favorably against other towns that are relative newcomers to redevelopment.

        “We're certainly hopeful that that is the case,” he said.

        The state money also could help the Cincinnati Port Authority complete its first cleanup, a nine-acre site in Sharonville once owned by an electroplating company. Director Randy Welker was encouraged the report names the Sharonville project, which could require up to $7 million.

        “If we can complete this, it shows we can get things done,” Mr. Welker said.

        Officials in other Ohio cities are just as optimistic. In Dayton, Special Projects Manager Eileen Enabnit sees a chance to help complete “Tool Town.”

        The ambitious project would concentrate new tooling and machining companies in 135 acres of redeveloped brownfields. Closed and abandoned businesses that owned 10 properties in this area once employed 3,620 people.

        “We've been wanting this for a while now,” Ms. Enabnit said. “We need money and the federal government has not been able to designate it themselves.”

        In Akron, Deputy Mayor Jeff Wilhipe hopes to use the state money to remove asbestos from an old power plant. Once that's done the property could be included in a park and nearby growing entertainment district.

        And in Columbus, state money could be used to redevelop a 40-acre site that once housed several small businesses, including service stations and dry cleaners. Economic Development Manager Gary Guglielmi said the project could lure 300 new jobs.

        State agency officials who are likely to hand out the money next year, however, would not say these cities are guaranteed funds.

        John Magill, assistant deputy director at the Ohio Department of Development, said his agency will favor community projects that appear likely to attract new jobs and businesses to unused properties.

        “We're not going to be picking projects for cities,” Mr. Magill said.

        He did acknowledge, however, that the 17 listed cities are strong candidates.

        “They are likely to be more competitive, because they know more about these sites,” Mr. Magill said.

        The agency could hand out up to $175 million over the next three to four years. That's if lawmakers approve a spending outline the Department of Development and the Ohio EPA circulated among city officials in May.

        The Ohio EPA would spend the remaining $25 million to clean up properties where contamination threatens public health. Deputy Director Pat Madigan said one priority is to help clean up pollution that threatens public water supplies.

        Ms. Madigan said the agency compiled the report to help convince lawmakers to put the funding issue before voters. Later called “Issue 1,” it passed Nov. 7 with 52.7 percent of the votes cast.

        “It was done to help demonstrate to legislators that there is a need for these funds in Ohio,” Ms. Madigan said.

        Issue 1 passed over the objections of some environmental groups. Jane Forrest Redfern, environmental projects director at Ohio Citizen Action, said some of the money may help clean up properties owned by companies that should pay for the work themselves.

        Ms. Redfern noted one of Dayton's “Tool Town” properties once was owned by General Motors.

        “The last time I checked, GM was a viable company,” she said.

        Environmental groups are expected to push lawmakers to earmark money to only help clean up “orphan” sites, places in which no owner or company can be found to pay. The Ohio General Assembly must pass a spending plan for the money next year.

        Ms. Enabnit, however, said there are plenty of orphan sites in Dayton and at the Tool Town project.

        “I would say that in a majority of these properties the owners don't exist anymore,” she said.

        In Lockland, Mr. Melfi said many corporations that polluted the land no longer exist in Ohio. And current owners don't have the money to pay for cleanups.

        “An (environmental) lawsuit and $1 could get you a cup of coffee, but no real way to clean up these sites,” he said. “You could go after them and get a judgment, but there's no money to collect.”

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