4.13.2010
City fund designed to clean up polluted sites
By: Robert Vitale - www.Dispatch.com
Developers who want to reclaim abandoned gas stations and other polluted sites soon will be eligible for help from City Hall.

Columbus City Council members set aside $1 million tonight for what's being called the Green Columbus Fund, modeled on a smaller scale after state government's Clean Ohio grants that pay for environmental cleanups at old factory sites.

The money was approved as part of a new capital-spending plan that resumes the city's schedule of repaving streets, repairing buildings and replacing aging equipment. Such spending had come to a near-halt since 2008, but is being ramped back up since voters approved a city income-tax increase last summer.

More than $130 million of the $663.5 million capital budget for 2010 will come from the portion of tax money set aside for big-ticket purchases and construction projects. The vast majority of the budget is for Department of Public Utilities projects that are funded by water, sewer and electric-utility ratepayers.

The plan approved unanimously by the council includes $20.7 million to repave portions of 93 Columbus streets and another $13.7 million for repairs at parks, pools, playgrounds and recreation centers.

Councilman Andrew J. Ginther said the work is possible only because city residents approved raising the income tax from 2 percent to 2.5 percent for everyone who works in Columbus.

Development Director Boyce Safford III said the Green Columbus Fund will be used to offer incentives to developers who want to build environmentally friendly projects or redevelop sites too small to qualify for Clean Ohio help.

The city has backed developers' applications for state money to clean places such as the former Columbus Coated Fabrics factory in Weinland Park, but Safford said other contaminated parcels sit untouched and highly visible.

"There's a lot of abandoned gas stations, corner gas stations," he said.

Index of all news articles