YOUNGSTOWN Planning board

The city planning board did the following on Tuesday:
Talked about a proposal to change the city's group-home law. One change would increase the minimum space between such homes from 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet. A second change would prohibit re-establishing a nonconforming group home after one year of the building's not being operated as such a business. Large vacant homes are turning into group homes too frequently, said Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd. "We're trying to rebuild our neighborhoods. We have enough group homes," he said. The law department will draft the changes, and there will be a hearing afterward.
Replatted several pieces of property on the Chaney High School grounds. The replats mean Alltel Communications doesn't need a variance to build a 150-foot cell phone tower on school grounds. Federal communications laws allow such towers in residential areas. Neighborhood residents have said they will file a lawsuit.
Recorded a fourth "yes" vote to give Youngstown Christian School a variance needed to build a gym, four classrooms, lockers and offices behind its building on Southern Boulevard. A previous vote was 3-1. Four votes are needed for passage. The school redesigned the new gym, at the board's request, to be 52 feet from back yards on nearby Maple Drive in Boardman Township. The gym had been nearly directly behind the homes.