SHARON City will raze buildings for new parking lot

Replacement of a parking deck at the library will create a parking shortage.
SHARON, Pa. -- The city is moving ahead with plans to raze three dilapidated East State Street buildings and replace them with a parking lot.
City council awarded contracts for asbestos removal and demolition of the structures in a special meeting Tuesday.
Air Technology Inc. of Bethel Park, Pa., got the asbestos job at $51,800 while Daniel A. Terreri & amp; Sons of North Jackson, Ohio, got the demolition contract for $78,900. Both were the low bidders.
The city is using federal Community Development Block Grant funds to tear down the buildings at 200-212 E. State St. and put in a parking lot and small park. The city bought the properties at a county tax sale, which once housed Elite Fashions and Bridal Shop and other businesses, in July for just $1,135.
The city needs the parking lot because the two-level parking deck across State Street at the Shenango Valley Community Library will be rebuilt in the near future, creating a parking shortage in the area.
Once that project is finished, the city can consider selling the parking lot for commercial development.
Other business
In other business, council passed the first of two required readings of an ordinance increasing the cost of permits for steel trucks hauling oversized loads on city streets.
The old fee was $365 a year, and the new one will be $500, said Fred Hoffman, council president.
The state recently passed a law allowing trucks to haul up to 125,000 pounds on state roadways, but the trucks must also secure permits from municipalities they cross.
Duferco Farrell Corp. wants the heavy hauling permits to haul double loads of coil steel to Winner Steel Service Center, Sharon Tube Co. and Wheatland Tube Co. plants in Sharon.
That would require three permits because it covers three separate routes through town, Hoffman said.
The loads would be heavier but fewer, Hoffman said, noting the company said it would be able to ship using only 35 trucks per day instead of 75.