Two Hamilton County villages, one city, an agency and the Hamilton County Park District will be awarded grants today totaling close to $2.3 million from the Clean Ohio Fund, a program Ohio voters approved in November 2000.

        The communities will buy greenspace and do home buyouts and restoration projects along Mill Creek and smaller streams.

        Gov. Bob Taft will announce the awards at 2 p.m. at Caldwell Recreational Park, 316 North Bend Road, Hartwell.

        The Hamilton County Park District is receiving two of the six grants, totaling more than $1.1 million, to purchase 183 acres along the Whitewater River in Harrison Township and about 70 acres of hillside property near Broadwell Road in Anderson Township.

        Mill Creek Restoration Project, a non-profit organization, is being given almost $432,000 for a project along the creek in Carthage and Hartwell.

        Fairfax will be awarded about $500,000 — with another $500,000 to come — for a restoration project along Little Duck Creek, which is prone to flooding. Last July a flash flood there swamped homes, killing two people. The money will be used for home buyouts and turning the sites into greenspace.

        Springdale is getting close to $209,000 for a restoration project along Beaver Run, which involves stabilizing stream banks along the creek near Chesterdale Road, and in one area widening the creek bed.

        Elmwood Place is getting $67,000 to purchase 2.5 acres along Mill Creek.

        Clean Ohio Program, which includes the Green Ohio Fund, provides $400 million over the next four years for greenspace and conservation projects as well as “brownfield” revitalization projects.

        The grants were decided by a Natural Resources Assistance Council.

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