AIRPORT ZONING People can offer input on changes

The rules would discourage expansion of mobile home parks close to the airport.
WARREN -- People living near the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport will have two opportunities later this month to offer their views on proposed airport zoning regulations.
The airport zoning district would cover large swaths of Vienna, Fowler, Brookfield, Howland and Bazetta townships.
A draft of the airport zoning resolution is almost ready, although some issues remain to be ironed out with the county prosecutor's office, Trumbull County commissioners were told Tuesday.
Hearings
There will be two public hearings on the regulations before the airport's zoning commission can recommend their approval to commissioners:
*3 p.m. May 19 in the commissioners' hearing room, fifth floor, county administration building, 160 High St. N.W.
*7 p.m. May 26 at Vienna Township Hall, 848 Youngstown-Kingsville Road, Vienna.
The Trumbull County Planning Commission and Save Our Air Reservists, a pro-base advocacy group, called on commissioners last year to create the zoning district.
Regulations were recommended by a consulting firm hired by SOAR to identify what local officials can do to help the air base survive a round of base closures this year.
The Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport Zoning Commission has been working on the regulations for several months and has studied regulations in place at other airports.
These regulations would enforce Federal Aviation Administration restrictions on heights of building around the airport, and set density standards for areas in the flight paths at the end of the runways.
"The major concern related to density of development appears to be the three mobile home parks located in Vienna Township in close proximity to the airport," the zoning commission's recent meeting minutes state. "Some of the mobile home parks have been proposing to expand their facilities by adding land for additional mobile home sites."
Of particular interest to the zoning commission was the Fairfield County Airport in Lancaster, Ohio. The district surrounding its runways only permits open space or airport-related facilities.
Another zoning district at Fairfield allows most local land uses, but prohibits bodies of water and solid waste facilities that would attract waterfowl; and facilities where large numbers of people would congregate, such as hospitals, schools and churches.
Comparable regulations
The Fairfield zoning resolution also prohibits multifamily dwellings at a density of more than one unit per 1.5 acres. This is comparable to Trumbull County's subdivision regulations, according to the commission's minutes.
This standard for housing units "would discourage the expansion of mobile home parks, which have much higher densities."
Further, the zoning regulations would ban buildings taller than 150 feet within about 2.5 miles of the airport, and buildings taller than 400 feet within about 3.5 miles.
Few, if any, buildings in Trumbull County are 150 feet tall. But plans for a $300 million indoor racetrack appear to conflict with this zoning proposal. The 400-foot-tall building proposed by developer Bob Brant is being considered for a site very close to the airport.