Friday, February 25, 2005
A pizza shop will move onto Meridian Road.
AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees have approved rezoning eight lots, paving the way for construction of a new Walgreens drugstore near Cornersburg.
The store will be built on the southeast corner of Tippecanoe Road and state Route 62 on a site occupied by Belleria Pizza.
The Visconsi Companies of Pepper Pike, Ohio, which is developing the Walgreens, also requested the rezoning of the eight lots, seven along Meridian Road and one on Ferdinand Road.
"As part of the contract with Belleria, we're assisting them with that relocation and with the necessary rezoning," said Mike Lewis of the Pepper Pike company.
Belleria plans to relocate to Meridian, between ERA Realty and First Place Bank. Two older, renter-occupied homes and two vacant lots occupy that space.
The zone change request was to change those lots as well as the realty building, the bank building and its parking lot to a business classification that will allow the pizza shop.
The realty company and bank intend to continue to operate, Lewis said. But the request was made for all of the property so as to avoid spot zoning.
"We think the new growth will be a positive thing," Lewis said.
In the plans
The commercial development also will mirror the Youngstown side of Meridian Road, he said.
The pizza shop will erect a fence in its rear lot to provide a buffer between it and the residential area behind it, the company officials said.
Both the Mahoning County Planning Commission and the township zoning commission previously recommended approval.
Trustee Bo Pritchard recommended approval of the requests with a modification. He suggested that the lot next to the bank, which was zoned to allow a parking lot, retain its current zoning classification.
Clerk Michael Kurish had expressed concern that rezoning that lot would encourage similar development on the other side of the street where it may not be warranted.
Trustees unanimously approved the zone change with that modification.