OGDENSBURG — The city of Ogdensburg is consolidating its cleanup and redevelopment efforts along the waterfront.

The city has applied for $350,000 from the state's Brownfield Opportunity Areas Program to study roughly 330 polluted or vacant acres along the St. Lawrence and Oswegatchie rivers, deemed to be hurdles for economic growth.

The study will focus on four districts: the Diamond Mill and Shade Roller properties, the Fort La Presentation park, the marina district and the former Augsbury Tank Farm.

The districts contain 15 known brownfield areas, but Planning and Development Director J. Justin Woods said he expects to find more brownfields as the land is studied.

Along with environmental testing and monitoring, the study will include community outreach, development planning, and marketing and economic analyses.

"It is designed to be a plan that gets implemented and provides the funds to do so,"Mr. Woods said at the Planning and Development meeting Tuesday.

Mr. Woods said he expects the study to be done in a year. All the projects will be parceled out to various experts to expedite the process, he said.

Despite the current problems in the state economy, Mr. Woods said he is confident the money will come.

"When the economy is bad, it is a perfect time to plan," said Mr. Woods.

The city already has taken steps to redevelop several brownfield areas by testing for asbestos at the former Augsbury Tank Farm and removing contaminants from the former Montgomery properties.

Mr. Woods said the study sets the city up for more state funds for things such as zoning, permits and environmental cleanupon the properties.

"With this, we can serve them up on a silver platter," he said.

William D. Hosmer, who owns property in the marina district and is a member of the Planning Board, said he is excited about the grant's potential.

"I think it's great that the city is looking into developing that land," he said. "I think they're moving in the right direction."