Lucas County seeks clean-up funding for old buildings

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Lucas County is looking for new dollars to clean up some old buildings with a look toward their future uses.

County officials are looking for what are called Brownfield Remediation dollars. Asbestos is the target and these buildings need that gone before demolition.

Whether it be a building that recently held early voting or one where people found jobs and family services or even where kids ended up when they found themselves in trouble with the law, three Lucas County buildings have seen the end of their life span.

“We own a lot of property as a county and we need to make sure that we’re either using it or taking care of it,” said Lucas County Commissioner Gary Byers.

That’s why Commissioner Byers and his colleagues have applied for state Brownfield remediation dollars to rid those buildings of asbestos when they eventually come down.

The county will need make a 25% match to the state dollars. $350 million dollars are available statewide.

“If we are competing with other areas and we have a brown site that’s a possibility if we haven’t cleaned it up then the competition is diminished,” said Byers.

Some of these buildings haven’t been used in quite a long time. One of the buildings targeted for this money if the former Child Study Institute behind Domestic Relations Court, according to a sign on the building, has been closed since April 12, 2001. No use is set yet for that building on 10th street by Jackson. Same goes for the old Job and Family Services on Monroe Street in the area of the old Swayne Field.

The Ohio Means Jobs building which had housed the Board of Elections Early Vote Center will come down. That site is already earmarked for the new county Canine Care and Control shelter. All in an effort to cleanup trouble spots and prepare for the future.

“The more we can do to revitalize this particular locations, the more competitive we can be,” said Byers.

Many of the services we just mentioned have been moved to the county’s new Shared Services building on Sylvania avenue.

Communities have until June 30th to apply for the dollars, with those Lucas County applications already completed.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2022 WTVG. All rights reserved.