YOUNGSTOWN West Siders protest cellular tower

The neighborhood will file a class-action lawsuit if necessary, a resident said.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- People living near Chaney High School don't want anything to do with a proposed cellular phone tower on the property.
They may not have a choice, however.
Alltel Communications can put up the 150-foot tower without city approval if the company replats the property. That's what emerged from the city zoning appeals board Tuesday, despite protests from people living near Chaney on Ridgelawn and Overlook avenues.
Alltel was seeking two variances: one to reduce the rear setback from 180 feet to 15 feet; the other to waive the need for an 8-foot fence 25 feet from a property line.
The tower and a small shelter were planned for Chaney property near Overlook opposite from the school buildings. The placement, however, would interfere with future parking plans, said zoning board member Ray Jaminet.
Jaminet, an architect designing a major addition to the school, asked that the site be moved so that the parking plan would work better.
If Alltel replats the property with the school's agreement and moves the tower, the company won't need any variances and the parking problem will ease, he said.
Matter would end: Alltel won't have to come back to the board if variances aren't needed. City zoning and federal communications laws allow such towers in residential areas, much to the dismay of Jane Radovich, who lives on Ridgelawn.
The tower will become the view out her kitchen window.
"It's a residential area. Everybody will have to look at it. This is business. This tower does not belong," Radovich said. "It is unsightly. It's an eyesore."
The neighborhood is creating a petition and will file a class-action lawsuit if necessary, she said. Other residents on Ridgelawn and Overlook backed her up.
Councilman Ron Sefcik, D-4th, wrote letters asking the zoning board to wait a month on the variances so residents can oppose the tower.
The zoning board voted to defer the item, but the residents probably won't get to protest anymore since the item likely won't come back.
Other business: The board also gave one variance to a church and almost gave another to a church-run school:
U The American Hungarian Reformed Church on Mahoning Avenue got a variance to reduce its front setback from 25 feet to five feet. The church is using the space to install an elevator.
U Youngstown Christian School got a 3-1 vote to get a variance so it can build a gym, four classrooms, lockers and offices behind its building on Southern Boulevard.
Four votes, however, are needed for passage. Absent members will vote later.
The school designed the new gym close to the backyards on nearby Maple Drive in Boardman Township. The zoning board asked the school to change the design.
The new design leaves the gym 52 feet from those yards.