You should use some of WordPress’s built in functions, there is even a new meta compare parameter. You can create, for example:
$state = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'meta_state', true); //the meta value to compare
$query = new WP_Query
( array(
'meta_key' => 'project',
'meta_value' => '$state',
'meta_compare' => '<=',
'post_type' => 'projects' ) );
//spit them out into yearly dates using a conditional tag