SitemapThousands of dollars in funding
has been granted to the city of Youngstown to help revitalize the abandoned gas
stations in the city.
The funding for brownfield site revitalization is used to
help local governments redevelop vacant and unused properties. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that 172 communities and
organizations, including Youngstown, will receive the funding to improve its
economy and create an environment where jobs can grow. Youngstown was selected
to receive a $200,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant to collaborate with
community partners to inventory, prioritize, assess and plan for the
development of former gas stations on major streets. The grant will also help
with vacant lots that have petroleum or oil based hazards buried beneath them. Mayor
John McNally says there are about 300 of those lots in Youngstown. "Just
coming down from Boardman this afternoon and driving down Glenwood, there's
probably four to six locations that are on that inventory that have some shell
of maybe an old gas station or there used to be a gas station, but you know
whatever was there on the surface was cleaned away," said McNally.
"It's what's underneath the ground that is the problem, and this grant is
going to help begin the process of trying to solve that."
Other areas in Ohio that were given approved funding were
Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority and Southern Ohio Port
Authority, Portsmouth. Greenville, Pennsylvania was also given a community-wide
grant of $300,000, according to the list of cities granted on the EPA's
website. Greenville's grant will be used to conduct environmental site
assessments and support community outreach.
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