STEUBENVILLE — The Jefferson County Port Authority discussed readying itself to apply for and win fiscal year 2025 brownfield remediation grant funds, Monday.

It’s been hardly a month since the port authority was awarded the first portion of its $1 million set-aside from the Ohio Department of Development’s 2024 Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program. Those funds will finance remediation of legacy environmental liabilities at the JSW Steel USA Ohio South Yard, W.H. Sammis Power Plant and Weirton Steel Steubenville works.

Now, port authority Executive Director Robert Naylor wants to ensure Jefferson County is “ready to go” and capitalize on the 2025 brownfield program.

During Monday’s regular session, Naylor told the port authority board of directors that three Ohio counties received 69 percent of available 2024 funds. Most likely, he said, the port’s three projects suffered from some historical or title issues.

Jefferson County was guaranteed a $1 million set-aside by the 2024 program, but that won’t be present in the 2025 program. So, Naylor said, a “pre-vet document” has been developed to get projects suitable for submission, ahead of the anticipated 45-to-60-day lead time from the ODOD.

Naylor said the port has identified three projects that will receive a pre-vet document, and any others that request a document will also get it.

The goal is to have “everything uploaded,” perhaps even before the submission portal opens, Naylor said.

Having everything ready for submission is critical, he added, given that $175 million will be available and competitors like Franklin County are already vetting their projects.

On a similar note, Naylor gave an update on the port authority’s projects in the 2022 brownfield remediation program.

Two projects currently make up most of the grant activity. One of those is the Piney Fork UST property near Smithfield, which Naylor said is afflicted with two compounds that are beyond the acceptable threshold and must be dealt with.

The Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations has said the port authority could either do a soil removal or, as a least resort, have a non-residential land use restriction on the property. While the latter option would be the easiest, Naylor noted that there’s still money left in the grant.

So, the port authority would obtain quotes for soil removal and use its remaining grant funds to remediate the property as best as possible.

“There’s no certainty, but we’re very confident that when we move the soil and it gets landfilled and we also remove the wells, it’s going to take care of it to (BUSTR’s) satisfaction.”

Also, Naylor reported that the port authority’s presentation before JobsOhio on the planned Jefferson County Industrial Park spec building went “very well.”

JobsOhio offers the Ohio Site Inventory Program, a part-grant and part-forgivable loan program that the port is pursuing to help defray construction costs of the spec building, which would occupy a 13.36-acre site in the industrial park.

The port authority had hoped to utilize low-interest loans from the ODOD Rural Industrial Park Loan Program for the same reason, but Naylor reported that the program is “tapped out.” Ohio will soon consider its biennium budget, he added, but funding for the program remains uncertain.

On the bright side, projects have supposedly been steered toward the All Ohio Future Fund instead. To use the fund as an alternate funding court, the port authority would just need to meet that program’s requirements, Naylor said.

The spec building project would cost $7,034,000, Naylor said, and the port authority is attempting to build it for about $4.5 million. The project is also expected to benefit from the port authority’s sales tax exemption, as well as enterprise zoning benefits.

“Right now, it’s a math problem,” Naylor said. “So, the questions going to be with this project going forward: Can we make the math work in our favor?”

In other business:

• Naylor reported that the port authority is working with OhioSE, JobsOhio, and the ownership group of Yorkville Intermodal Terminals LLC to provide information on local incentives for a early-stage revenue company that’s looking to expand. The Yorkville Intermodal spec building in Yorkville is long locations in the company is considering in the Tri-State Area.

• The board reviewed a preliminary budget from Fiscal Officer Gary Folden. The budget included an anticipated $200,000 coming to the port authority from two governments: $150,000 from the Jefferson County commissioners and $50,000 from the City of Steubenville. Those allocations remained the same from last year, Naylor said, adding that the port “very much appreciates that.”