COLUMBUS, Ohio - The local governments pitching the 16 projects that won state money for environmental cleanup projects did their homework and found enough matching money to convince the judges, a development official and an environmentalist say.

        The state help, which totals $39 million, comes from the sales of bonds voters approved in 2000 to clean up brownfields - abandoned industrial sites - and set aside land for green space.

BROWNFIELD CLEANUP PROJECTS

• Former GHR Foundry, Dayton, $2 million. • Jeffrey Place, Columbus, $3 million. • Youth Intervention Center, Cuyahoga County, $3 million. • American Tissue Mills, Lockland, $2.1 million. • Middlebury Grocery, Akron, $2.8 million. • Arena Project, Toledo, $3 million. • Southern Ohio Port Authority, New Boston, $3 million. • Mosler Safe Facility, Hamilton, $2.4 million. • Lakeview Bluffs, Lake County, $3 million. • Midtown Technology Center, Cleveland, $3 million. • Marina Project, Toledo, $3 million. • Former D&H Manufacturing, Springfield, $1.9 million. • 421 Main St., Wellsville, $67,100 • Port of Cincinnati, $1.5 million • Hemisphere Industrial Park, Cleveland, $3 million. • Beech Street Power Plant, Akron, $3 million.   Ohio Department of Development

        The 16 projects represent the first group of proposals approved by the Clean Ohio Council, a board of environmental, development and local officials. The council announced the winning projects on July 16. It rejected 10 projects.

        The program was designed as a developmental tool, but environmental improvement was important, said Bruce Cornett, director of the Green Environmental Coalition and a Clean Ohio Council member.

        One of the projects is the cleanup of the long-abandoned GHR foundry in Dayton, which will get $2 million from the state.

        “Anybody who lives in the Miami Valley knows the GHR foundry is a hellhole, for lack of a better word,” said Mr. Cornett. “This site was a polluting foundry that was destroying a neighborhood over there.”

        The city of Dayton contributed $1.1 million for the cleanup and other sources will pay $815,000, for a total of $3.9 million.

        That's a good example of the coalitions envisioned by supporters of the bond program, said Jim Manuel, director of the Ohio Department of Development's urban development office. Local money cannot be found until the cost of the damage is added up, he said.

        The government pitching a project scores higher if it has a specific use in mind for the site after it's cleaned up, he said. The Clean Ohio Council awards points to projects based on their purpose, local backing and other factors.

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