Clean Ohio Fund would get boost as part of Strickland's jobs plan

A program favored by developers and environmentalists has gotten a boost by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

Some $400 million to extend the Clean Ohio Fund is part of a $1.7 billion economic stimulus package unveiled Feb. 6 by Strickland. He hopes to persuade the Ohio General Assembly to put a bond package on the Nov. 4 ballot to pay for the program.

But that might be easier said than done.

"We are absolutely pleased and excited the Clean Ohio Fund has gotten seemingly new life as part of the governor's package," said William DeMora, executive director of the Ohio League of Conservation Voters.

The environmental advocacy group in Columbus has been lobbying Strickland and legislators to extend the Clean Ohio Fund, which was approved by voters in 2000 but whose $400 million in appropriations has run dry.

Since its inception, Clean Ohio has included four rounds of funding at $100 million a round, DeMora said. Some $50 million a round has gone to brownfields revitalization, with the rest divided among so-called green projects such as farmland preservation, recreational trails and greenspace projects that protect natural habitats and improve water quality.

Those same areas would be funded in Strickland's Building Ohio Jobs package, DeMora said.



Footing the bill

Strickland said his stimulus package would create more than 80,000 jobs and lay a foundation for prosperity in Ohio. Besides the Clean Ohio Fund, the package would include:

$400 million to help communities with road, bridge, water and sewer projects.

$250 million for development of Ohio's advanced and renewable energy economy, including wind, solar and clean-coal projects.

$200 million to the biomedical industry.

$200 million for redevelopment of downtowns in cities and villages.

$150 million for the state's roads, rails and ports to support the logistics industry.

Strickland is expected to send a bill to the General Assembly in the next month, asking legislators to put a bond issue on the ballot to pay for his jobs plan. If they refuse, private interests could mount an petition drive to get the bond issue before voters this fall.

Approval of the bond issue by the Republican-controlled legislature doesn't appear to be a slam dunk. House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, has said he has concerns about raising the state's long-term debt to fund new programs.

Husted and Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, are committed to enacting a job-creation package but the details of their plan are still to be determined, said Karen Stivers, Husted's spokeswoman.

"The governor and speaker have very similar goals and shared vision (on job creation)," she said. "The question is how can all these critical things be accomplished without burdening future generations with debt."

A similar concern was aired by David Hansen, head of the Buckeye Institute, a conservative public policy think tank in Columbus.

"The governor is sacrificing long-term economic growth for a short-term payoff," he said. "Bonds are not free. Future generations of Ohioans will be stuck with an ever-increasing mountain of state debt, payable with interest."

Finding the best way to fund the Clean Ohio program is one of the questions that needs to be answered, Stivers said.



Success stories

Columbus, Gahanna and Lancaster have received nearly $21 million in brownfields revitalization money from Clean Ohio since the program's first funding round in 2002.

The projects have ranged from cleaning up the old Bedford landfill site in Gahanna for reuse as an office park and golf course to transforming the former A.C. Humko industrial site in Columbus' Harrison West neighborhood into a 234-home development.

Developer Marvin Katz said he wouldn't be converting the former Techneglas Inc. site on Columbus' south side into a mix of industrial, office and retail uses if it weren't for the Clean Ohio Fund. Its brownfield revitalization program awarded Columbus a $3 million grant last year to clean up the property, where television picture tubes were once manufactured.

"Without the Clean Ohio Fund," Katz said, "no developer could have taken that site and turned it into something like we're trying to do. It would have just stood there empty, dragging down the neighborhood."

The Clean Ohio Fund has a track record of turning liabilities into assets for redevelopment, said Atul Pandey, president of Columbus-based Pandey Environmental LLC. His firm helps communities apply for Clean Ohio grants and has worked on several Columbus projects.

"(Clean Ohio) has really jump-started a lot of environmental clean-up this state needed badly," Pandey said. "We need to continue with funding for these properties."