ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Hubbard city, township officials look forward to working together

The expressway will create potential economic development, a planner says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
HUBBARD -- City and township officials say they're eager to share in a comprehensive plan for their combined future, especially as it concerns economic development.
"Any time the city and the township can work together, it's great. I think this is just the beginning," said Councilwoman Lisha Pompili Baumiller, D-3rd.
"It'll bring future growth here -- future economic development. That's what we're looking for. We want people to come to the city, to the township, and make their homes and new businesses. If we're at odds with each other, it's not going to happen," Baumiller added.
"We want to coordinate with whatever the city does because we have so many shared boundaries," said Fred Hanley, Hubbard Township trustee chairman.
On some streets, one side of the street is in the city, and the other in the township, he noted.
Heard land-use plan
City council members and township trustees met Thursday in council chambers to hear Trumbull County Planning Commission staff present a vision for land use in the city and township.
"We just want to be on the same page with them [city officials] when it comes to both economic and residential development," Hanley said.
Hanley said he'd like to see more joint economic development districts between the city and township, such as the one at the new Flying J truck stop, where the city supplies electric and water and gets the income tax, and the township retains the land and property tax.
Alan Knapp, assistant county planning commission director, said the Flying J JED is the county's first.
"It shows that the township and the city can work together on economic development and land-use issues. It's a way to share the wealth when you get some new development," Knapp added.
Looking ahead
Knapp said the opening a few years from now of the Hubbard Expressway, which will originate in Youngstown and connect with Interstate 80 at Bell-Wick Avenue in Hubbard, will create significant economic development potential for both the city and township.
Therefore, he said, the commission staff has proposed that some commercial areas be established near that interchange.
"Maybe the township and the city can work together to allow for some new commercial growth, which should occur because of this new highway," Knapp said.
Knapp urged city and township officials to retain land along streams for parks and other public open spaces because development is generally inadvisable on flood plains and wetlands.
"It's a nice amenity for your community," he said of open space. State grants are available to help local communities purchase land for such open spaces, he added.
milliken@vindy.com