$350 million in brownfield grants will be given out, statewide throughout 2022.

This program will help with remediation of brownfield sites across Ohio.
 
$60 million dollars in the first round of grants for 78 projects across Ohio will help communities in 35 counties.
 
"There will be another round of funding that opens July 1, 2022, and it will close September 30. We will continue with rounds of grant opportunities until the $350 million has been claimed," said Lt. Governor Jon Husted.
 
"This money will help local communities acquire sites, assess them for contamination, remediate hazardous substances and prepare them for future economic development," said Lt. Governor Jon Husted.
 
Husted was in East Liverpool to announce the Columbiana County Land Bank will receive $1.1 million in a brownfield grant to demolish an empty school.
 
"The Maryland East Elementary School Building has sat vacant since 2017. Even though the building provided an important function in the past, it has not become a blight on the beautiful community, added Husted.
 
Husted tells 21 News this is a way to kickstart development in our communities again.
 
Governor Mike DeWine will be in Warren on Wednesday after making a major announcement that the Trumbull County Land Bank will receive $3.4 million to help tear down a former hospital which then was bought and turned into a business complex.
 
That building on Tod Avenue has sat empty for nearly 30 years.
 
The former Saint Joseph's Riverside Hospital was sold in 1997, then sold again in 2003 to a company that went bankrupt.
 
Warren's Mayor Doug Franklin says the city is thankful for the $3.4 million for demolition. The city has already secured a $2 million grant for asbestos removal here. 
 
"The state used to only do industrial sites. Well we convinced them to take these abandoned hospitals and other sites that are toxic, that are public health risks, and they need to come down," Mayor Franklin said.
 
Franklin explained that tearing this eyesore down will help establish property values and that it is a public health risk, an accident waiting to happen. He says this is Warren residents state dollars coming back to them. 
 
In 2018 the building caught fire inside revealing a water filled basement, elevator shafts and toxic elevator fluids in drums.
 
Former councilman Al Novak suited up with a Hazmat Team led by the late Don Waldron.
 
Novak tells 21 News they went inside after the Port Authority came up with money to fund air quality testing. 
 
"When the company did the air quality tests, and the other tests, they told me that was one of the most contaminated facilities they have ever worked in," emphasized Novak.
 
Some teens had ventured inside and fire fighters had to get them out. 
 
People had also been inside stripping  electrical wires and plumbing materials.
 
Novak tells us the Fire Chief told fire fighters and police it was too dangerous to go inside if there were a fire in the abandoned building.
 
Novak added, "It was very dangerous there. I named it the nightmare on Tod 'Avenue."
 
Councilman Todd Johnson says neighbors in the first ward are excited about the possibilities and different view. 
 
"It's going to make a monumental difference in the city, to get such a big complex down and have that acreage available for development, perhaps mixed use residential/business, Councilman Johnson said.
 
Johnson emphasized safety is the number one reason this building needs to be demolished. 
 
He tells 21 News he is excited to see what they can imagine there in the future. 
 
Mayors, and Council persons who represented the first ward, and the city at large helped lay the foundation of this fight for funds for asbestos removal, demolition and restoring the site so it can be safe for residents in the neighborhood and Warren. Many have moved on to other jobs, some passed away and others are still in the fight.
 
Ohio's Lieutenant Governor tells 21 News the funding is available today.
 
Most areas are getting the good news, and have not planned what they want to put at the site once it is cleaned.
 
No one wanted to make plans prior to having funds needed for clean up and tearing down the blighted structures.
 
Lt. Governor Husted said, "You can use this for business development, you can use it for residential housing, or a sporting complex, a park, green space, something the community finds of value but didn't have the money to get it started."