Mercer County is eligible to apply for $97,000 under the state Brownfields for Housing Initiative, but a proposal to use some of the money didn't sit well with a local advisory board.

Southwest Gardens Economic Development Corp., Farrell, asked for $21,000 to renovate two rental homes it owns in Farrell.

City code enforcement officer Mark Yerskey and Chris Conti, senior planner for Mercer County Regional Planning Commission, checked out the houses and came to believe they need more work than Southwest Gardens had estimated.

"The homework wasn't very good," said Dennis Puko, spokesman for the Mercer County Affordable Housing Fund Board. "They didn't seem to represent the work that needed done."

Meeting Monday, the board recommended that Mercer County commissioners not fund the proposal.

Instead, the board suggested the commissioners funnel the money into existing municipal housing rehabilitation programs, Puko said.

Southwest Gardens fared better on a second request from a separate pot of money.

The board also makes recommendations on how to spend the Affordable Housing Trust, which is built by an $11.50 charge on deeds and mortgages filed at the courthouse.

Southwest Gardens and Barnes and Miles of Pittsburgh asked for $150,000 to build five homes in Farrell. The proposal is part of a larger project to build 25 homes for low- and moderate-income families.

Puko said the board believes the county should support the project, but doesn't want to do so without Barns and Miles securing the major funding piece from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

PHFA turned down a previous request for a loan and the company is preparing a new application, Puko said.

Barnes and Miles has pegged the total project cost at $2.1 million.

The board recommended that commissioners award Southwest Gardens and Barnes and Miles the money they asked for, as long as they secure the PHFA funding.

The board also recommended $32,500 be awarded to Community Counseling Center to go toward the purchase of a home on Richmond Drive in Hermitage. Up to three mentally ill people who are served by the center live there.