Construction to begin soon on townhouses

YOUNGSTOWN -- Construction could begin on the first of up to five new detached townhouses on the North Side in the coming days with emergency approvals from the city zoning appeals board.
The board Wednesday approved reducing the front-yard setback requirements from 35 feet to 17 feet and reducing the side-yard setback from 23 feet to 20 feet for property on Baldwin Street at Bryson Street. Setback is the distance from the building to the street.
The emergency meeting was needed because construction needs to start within about a week or wait until spring, said Talut Rasul, executive director of the North Side Citizens' Coalition.
The coalition is building up to five of the single-family townhouses, which will be 1,600 square feet and have three bedrooms and attached two-car garages. The setback reductions were needed to accommodate the garages. The subsidized townhouses will cost about $130,000 to build and sell for about $95,000.