Austintown businesses, residents believe median is not practical

AUSTINTOWN -- Results of a survey show that several local business owners and residents believe it's not practical to build a median on state Route 46, a township business official says.
Michael Creatore, chairman of the Austintown Council of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said 55 of the 62 residents and business owners responded to the council's survey.
A group of local officials and residents has suggested that the Ohio Department of Transportation widen the road into a boulevard with a raised median and turn-lanes at intersections.
ODOT is planning to widen Route 46 into as many as five lanes in the township, and it has said it doesn't expect to turn the road into a boulevard.
The group believes widening the road to five lanes would make it a freeway that would allow drivers to bypass Austintown.
Creatore said that 57 of the 62 residents and business owners who responded to the survey believe the median would stifle growth, while 42 think it would not increase the community's aesthetics.
"There is no doubt in my mind that a boulevard would hamper my business," said Chuck Klingensmith, the owner of the Photo Place on Route 46. Klingensmith was one of about 10 local business people who attended a council meeting Thursday.
A total of 52 of those who responded to the survey are business owners, while 10 are residents. Creatore noted that he could receive more responses in the next few days, as the surveys were mailed to about 100 residents and business owners.
At Thursday's meeting, council member Donna Buzulencia said Creatore didn't review the questions in the survey with the rest of the council before putting it in the mail. Creatore said he reviewed the survey with chamber members, and noted that Buzulencia does not belong to the chamber.
Township Trustee Richard Edwards, however, said he is a chamber member and he didn't get a copy of the survey before it was mailed.
Creatore, meanwhile, criticized Edwards for stating at a recent Austintown Growth Foundation meeting that the proposal to add the median was "nonnegotiable."
Edwards responded that he didn't say the median proposal was nonnegotiable, adding that the group that wanted to build the median felt it would have to "legislate or litigate" to get its point across to ODOT.
Some council members wanted to know why the growth foundation wasn't consulted about the survey. At the end of Thursday's meeting, council members agreed to consult the foundation in the future when discussing issues that affect development.
The survey results will be sent to the chamber's government and legislative committee, which will decide if the entire chamber should take a position on the issue.
ODOT plans to start widening Route 46 in 2005.
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