Ohio Senate leader raises hopes for state aid to clear old St. Joe’s
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WARREN -- There might be state money to remove asbestos from the long-vacant and dilapidated St. Joseph Riverside Hospital building, the Ohio Senate president said.
Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina, looked Monday at the former hospital at 1300 and 1307 Tod Ave. NW with state Sen. Sean J. O'Brien, D-Bazetta.
Demolition of the former hospital, closed in 1996, is estimated to cost
$8 million. The removal of asbestos and other hazardous materials is expected to cost at least $2.2 million.
Obhof and O'Brien are focused on the abatement.
"There might be different pots of money to look at or different types of ways to do this," Obhof said. "But it needs to happen. If this was an old manufacturing site, we'd have different programs to clean up brownfields. There shouldn't be any difference if you're talking about a former medical facility -- certainly one where all the windows are broken out, where who knows how much crime takes place there."
He added: "It would be a good thing for this
community and maybe transformative for the area in general to say, 'You know what? It's time to clean this up and get it out of here.'"
O'Brien said it's possible to get money in next year's capital budget or perhaps from the state Environmental Protection Agency or Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
"I wanted to bring (Obhof) up to see what we're dealing with here and just the huge, colossal building and how difficult it's been for the city and the county to tear it down and to look at that," he said. "There's a big expense in doing it, so I wanted the president to come up and see first-hand the building, the blight that it's bringing to the community and how we could get some money from Columbus to do the asbestos removal."
The building can't even be considered for demolition until the asbestos is removed, O'Brien said.
Obhof was noncommital about getting money from the capital budget for St. Joseph Riverside.
"We're about to begin the capital budget process so we'll see if there's anything we can do as part of that process," he said. "But certainly as we move forward with this next General Assembly over the next 13 months there will be other opportunities for things as well. We'll see what we can do. Two million dollars is a pretty good-size request. But in many ways it's a public health hazard to have the building remain in its current form."
Also Monday, O'Brien took Obhof to see Lordstown Motors Corp., which is working to repurpose the former General Motors complex in Lordstown into a facility for making battery-powered vehicles.
"The news we've had over the last few weeks has been very promising," Obhof said of Lordstown Motors. "It sounds like a big step in the right direction to get some of the hardworking people in this community back to work."
He added: "We're looking forward to seeing them turn things around there and getting the plant up and running and re-employing the automakers from this area."
The Youngstown/Warren Regional chamber chose Obhof as its 2019 Political Achievement Award recipient for helping local lawmakers pass emergency legislation to held the construction of a HomeGoods distribution center in Lordstown and for supporting Drive It Home Ohio, which attempted to save the GM plant.
dskolnick@tribtoday.com