TRUMBULL COUNTY Racetrack study cost going up

The county is looking for large space and parking for two merging agencies.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners, at the urging of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, will ask for even more federal money for a feasibility study of an indoor racetrack.
The county would seek $185,000 instead of the previously voted-upon amount of $125,000, because a larger amount of local funding commitments is being secured.
The change was to be made at today's commissioners meeting.
Alan Knapp, planning commission director, told commissioners during a work session Tuesday that Ryan, of Niles, D-17th, encouraged the county to apply for the larger amount.
Knapp said that Ryan has "verbal commitments" for a $185,000 local match from the Western Reserve Port Authority, Brant Motorsports, Ohio Department of Development, Trumbull 100, Western Reserve Building Trades, and the Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
The total cost for this second but more detailed racetrack study would be $370,000. The port authority's contribution would be $40,000, Knapp said.
Checking the market
The first government-sponsored study, commissioned for $60,000 by Mahoning and Trumbull county commissioners, found that the idea had merit. This second study would zero in on market conditions and potential for the 40-acre covered racetrack.
Just last week, the commissioners had authorized the planning commission to seek funds through the Economic Development Administration's economic adjustment program for studying the proposed Mahoning Valley Motor Speedway.
Then, the total cost of the study was projected at $250,000. The county and port authority originally wanted a $125,000 grant from EDA, and fund the other $125,000 from local sources.
Congress has included $300,000 for this project in the EDA reauthorization bill enacted in 2004, commissioners said. That legislation, however, also capped EDA funding assistance at a maximum of 50 percent of a total project costs.
The track is proposed for near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, which is run by the port authority. It would cost $300 million to build, would initially seat 60,000, and would be expandable to 120,000 seats.
Brant Motorsports of Wheeling, W.Va., wants the project to be funded from a mix of private and public sources.
Merging agencies
Also today, commissioners will authorize the county Department of Job and Family Services to advertise for proposals for leasing or buying office space, ideally seeking 70,000 square feet and 500 parking spaces.
Two county agencies are merging by January 2006, Child Support Enforcement Agency, 106 High St. N.W., and Department of Job and Family Services, 150 S. Park Ave. Also wrapped into their merger are Workforce Development (formerly Private Industry Council), state Wagner-Peyser (formerly Ohio Bureau of Employment Services), and Trumbull County Family and Children First Council (Job and Family Services is its fiscal agent.)