Friday, November 15, 2002
Audience members cursed, made kissing noises and told a trustee to shut up.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The future of Centerpointe business park has been decided for at least the next 30 days.
That's how long Jamie Williams and other members of Austintown's Concerned Citizens have to stop a proposed zoning change for the park from taking effect. Township trustees approved a motion just before midnight Thursday to change the zoning for 180 acres slated to be the site of the park to light industrial.
The site, between state Routes 46 and 11 along Interstate 80, had been zoned agricultural, residential and business.
About 350 people attended a meeting Thursday night in the Fitch High School cafeteria to discuss the zone change. ACC opposes the change and the location of the park.
Williams, ACC chairman, said he will soon begin collecting signatures on petitions to place the zoning change on the ballot. If he collects the required number of signatures by Dec. 14, the zoning change will be postponed pending voter approval. He needs a number equal to one-tenth of the township residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election and said he doesn't think he'll have a problem collecting those in 30 days.
"I'd like to see if the majority of Austintown is against it," Williams said. He added that Thursday night's meeting "played out exactly as we expected it to."
The group's Web site, www.saynotoindustrial.org, had been seeking help distributing fliers and gathering petition signatures even before the meeting and had been visited by 380 people as of this morning, according to an Internet counter.
Mood of the crowd
From the start of the meeting at 7 p.m., it was clear that many of those attending weren't pleased with the proposal. A quiet grumble could be heard in the crowd as those involved with the project gave an hour presentation to open the meeting.
Some residents have said they worry the park could cause drainage, traffic and noise problems, destroy the natural setting of the area and decrease the values of neighboring homes.
Developer Jonathan Levy has said the park could become the site of $45 million worth of buildings for warehouses, retail businesses and offices that have $45 million in inventory. Those companies could create 1,000 to 1,500 jobs during the next 10 years, he said.
When Levy said during the presentation that some of those jobs could pay $15 an hour, one audience member replied sarcastically, "Yeah, right." After Levy said he lived in Liberty, not Austintown, an audience member said, "go to Liberty!"
Scott Weasel, an engineer working on the project, spoke after Levy and said he felt the location made it ideal for business development. A woman in the audience replied with disgust, "Traffic."
Levy then told residents that in response to their concerns, he had decided not to ask trustees to change the zoning for land between state Route 11 and Lanterman Road.
A chorus of residents loudly answered, "For now."
If the park is successful on the land between routes 46 and 11, Levy continued, he will ask trustees to change the zoning for the property between Route 11 and Lanterman Road so he can expand the park.
He then told the crowd, "I would really appreciate giving me the opportunity to make my case. That isn't too much to ask."
Confrontational mood
The confrontational mood in the cafeteria, however, intensified when trustees allowed members of the audience to comment on the project. Many clapped when opponents of the project spoke.
Trustee David Ditzler cautioned the crowd: "All this is doing is cutting down on how much time everyone is going to have."
He was told to shut up.
Previously, when Ditzler had said audience members would each have three minutes to speak, one man in the back of the cafeteria cursed loudly: "bull----."
Ditzler later got into an argument with Radio Road resident Paul Cubellis and threatened to end the meeting before most of the audience had a chance to speak. Cubellis had been chastising Lanterman Road resident William Racki for stating that the ACC "should be ashamed of themselves."
"We're not going to get into a personality battle," Ditzler said into a microphone while sitting at the trustees table.
"You let him do it!" Cubellis replied, gesturing toward Racki from a podium at the front of the room.
Racki had been one of the few audience members to express support for the project. As he spoke, some of those in the audience said "his time is up" and imitated the buzzing noise made by the trustees' timer.
"I know this is the type of thing he's had to endure," Racki said, referring to Levy. "It's a shame he's taken so much crap thrown at him."
An audience member then made a loud kissing noise.
'Springboard' for jobs
Racki had stressed that he feels Centerpointe would provide needed economic growth in Austintown and the Mahoning Valley. A few other audience members echoed his statements.
"This is going to be the springboard for our community to get those jobs," Myrwood Lane resident Dee Eaton said. Tracy McCarty, who works in Austintown, added, "it might not be comfortable and appealing to everyone, but it is a positive step forward."
Other residents, however, said they doubted that Levy would be able to attract businesses to the park.
"I don't feel it will pan out the way he says. There's too many ifs, too many ands, too many buts," Benton Avenue resident Gary Prest said. Some residents also expressed concern about how the park would affect their quality of life.
"There's no amount of money worth the peacefulness that people are used to in this area," said Frank Moran of West Viola Drive.
Levy plans to leave a 230-foot wide buffer -- 200 feet of trees and a 30-foot wide, 10-foot tall hill -- between the park and homes on Rutland Avenue. Original plans called for a 50-foot buffer of trees, but some Rutland Avenue residents had asked Levy for a 300-foot wide tree buffer and a strip of land zoned for business between their homes and the park.
Trustees said residents of Rutland and West Viola Drive can require Levy to build a fence between their property and the park.
"I can't see how this project is going to benefit my family or anyone else in Austintown," said Lisa Liposchak of Rutland Avenue.
West Viola Drive resident Anthony Ciccone told Levy he could better help the community by donating his land to the township as a park.
The park would be called, "Jonathan Levy Township Park," Ciccone said.
Ditzler's comments
After the meeting, Ditzler wiped sweat from his forehead and said he felt the park would attract new businesses to the township. He added, though: "Nobody really wins in a situation like this. From an emotional standpoint, people are talking about their homes and their lives. I know their concerns aren't going to be totally addressed."
Levy said after the meeting that he was "exhausted." He's been working hard to meet with residents during the past few weeks to address their concerns.
"We've given an awful lot, and we've tried to show that we're willing to work with the community," he said.