Testimony — Lindsay Crow, Verdantas, on House Bill 96 (March 5, 2025)

Summary

Interested party testimony to the House Development Committee on House Bill 96, the main operating budget for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, from Lindsay Crow, National Real Estate Market Leader with Verdantas, dated Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The testimony asks for continued funding for the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program (BRP). It states that Verdantas helped clients prepare 11 applications requesting $9.9 million in the last round of funding and 41 successful BRP applications since 2021, securing $119 million in grant awards. It supports the merit-based changes proposed by Representatives Hall and Sweeney and a continued appropriation of at least $100 million - $150 million per year.

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Full text

                                 House Development Committee
                      Interested Party Testimony, House Bill 96 (Stewart)
      Lindsay Crow, National Real Estate Market Leader, Associate Vice President, Verdantas
                                   Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Chair Hoops, Vice Chair Lorenz, Ranking Member Abdullahi, and members of the House
Development Committee, thank you for the opportunity to present Interested Party Testimony on
House Bill 96, the main operating budget for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
My name is Lindsay Crow and I am the National Real Estate Market Leader with Verdantas. I
am testifying today to respectfully request the inclusion of continued funding for the Ohio
Brownfield Remediation Program (BRP) in House Bill 96, the state’s Main Operating Budget.

Verdantas is a full-service consulting company in the environmental, water, and energy
transition infrastructure markets. In the State of Ohio, we employ seven Ohio Voluntary Action
Program Certified Professionals dedicated to Ohio’s brownfield program. For more than 30
years, we have been leaders in Ohio’s brownfield assessment, remediation, and redevelopment
efforts, directing hundreds of Ohio Voluntary Action Program projects since the program’s
inception.

The Ohio General Assembly created the BRP in 2021 with an initial appropriation of $350
million. Two years later, lawmakers renewed the program with a second appropriation of $350
million. To date, the program has been responsible for the cleanup or assessment of more than
600 brownfield sites in 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties. These results not only show that brownfields
are indeed a statewide problem but also show that there are opportunities for new economic
development and revitalization in every region of Ohio.

Verdantas helped our public and private sector clients and Land Banks prepare 11 applications
requesting $9.9 million in the last round of funding due to ODOD two weeks ago. We helped
Land Banks and other applicants prepare 41 successful BRP applications since 2021, securing
$119 million in grant awards. Many of these properties are in prime locations and will soon have
thriving new uses that will provide significant investments, new jobs, new housing units, and
venues that will improve the quality of life for Ohio residents.

As impressive as the state’s prior brownfield funding allocations and the resulting projects have
been, the progress made over the past four years has just barely scratched the surface of what
is needed to address the brownfield remediation needs in Ohio. Of the grants that have been
awarded since 2021, 279 have been assessment grants. Assessments only determine the
scope of contamination that may exist on a site. The majority of these locations will need
cleanup funds to ensure they are made available for future redevelopment opportunities. This is
why it is critical to continue funding for the Brownfield Remediation Program for at least the next
two years.

The achievements of the Ohio’s BRP should be highly commended; however, the
implementation of the current program can be improved. State Representatives Thomas Hall
and Bride Sweeney proposed important changes to the BRP that will shift the program from a
first come, first serve model to a merit-based system, which scores applications reviewed by a
panel of experts working with the Ohio Department of Development. This model mirrors Ohio’s
first brownfield program, the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF). The CORF was
responsible for producing $1.16 billion in one-time contributions and contributing $1.4 billion
annually to the state’s Gross Domestic Product. We can attest to the success of that program
and the value of a scoring-based system, as our team helped our clients secure 75 successful
grants worth over $124 million in that program’s duration from 2002-2012. The methodologies
and processes established through that program provided the structure and predictable set of
factors that allowed applicants the ability to determine whether a project had the strong
qualifications to pursue funding.

As an individual directly engaged in this work, I firmly believe that implementing these changes
is essential not just for the remediation of brownfields, but for continuing to position Ohio as a
prime destination for business expansion. By supporting a continued appropriation for the
brownfield remediation program of at least $100 million - $150 million per year, along with the
programmatic changes being proposed by Representatives Hall and Sweeney, we will unlock
the potential of numerous sites across the state, making them viable for new developments.
This will not only preserve the state’s valuable agricultural land and green spaces but also
attract new businesses; generate significant revenue; and create quality jobs, housing, and new
opportunities for Ohioans.

Chair Hoops and members of the House Development Committee, thank you for the opportunity
to provide this interested party testimony for continued brownfield funding and the resulting
redevelopment successes in Ohio.




                                         Lindsay Crow
                              National Real Estate Market Leader
                                        (216) 505-7714
                                    lcrow@verdantas.com



        Eric Wilburn, CP#306                       Jennifer Carter-Cornell, APR
        Vice President                             Principal, Senior Consultant – Funding Specialist
        ewilburn@verdantas.com                     jcornell@verdantas.com



John Zampino, CP#280       Susan Yarger, CP#343                    Steven Gross, CP#192
Senior Consultant          Senior Project Manager                  Senior Consultant
john.zampino@verdantas.com syarger@ctconsultants.com               sgross@verdantas.com



Nathan Fela, CP#395             Sarah Ewing, CP#404                Cory Schoonover, CP#415
Project Manager                 Senior Scientist                   Senior Project Manager
nfela@verdantas.com             sewing@verdants.com                cschoonover@verdantas.com


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