Board, council debate swap

The street superintendent says the parcel is vital to his department.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A proposed land swap to give the city ownership of six school properties in exchange for a parcel on Teamster Drive near the district's warehouse hit a snag.
The city-owned land the school district wants is between two city street department parcels and would cause problems for the department if it is given away, said Joseph Mastropietro, the street department superintendent, and Councilman Mark Memmer, D-7th ward, at a Wednesday meeting of council's education committee.
The parcel desired by the school district is used by the street department for vehicle and equipment storage, Mastropietro said. On one side of the parcel are the department's offices and on the other side is its salt pile, as well as storage for used tires set for shredding.
If the city gave up that 3.3-acre location, street department vehicles would either have to travel on busy Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to go from one place to the other or seek an easement to drive on what would be school district-owned land, Mastropietro and Memmer said.
"We're pressed for space now," Mastropietro said. "That area is vital to our operations."
Planned uses
The school system wants the city parcel, across the street from the district's warehouse, for temporary storage of its buses when they are undergoing repairs and maintenance work, said Tony DeNiro Jr., the district's assistant superintendent of school business affairs. The district doesn't have the space for those buses before and after they undergo repairs, he said.
DeNiro suggested the city give the Teamster Drive location to the school district, which would then grant the city an easement to use the property. Memmer countered by saying the city would keep the property and provide an easement to the school district, something DeNiro didn't find acceptable.
Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd Ward and education committee chairman, said the land swap is in the preliminary stages and it will take time to work out a plan that will satisfy both parties.
In exchange for the Teamster Drive parcel, the school district would demolish six elementary schools and give the properties to the city. The city would turn those properties into parks, recreation facilities, gardens or green space areas.
The exchange would be done in phases as the five buildings are demolished and would probably take three years to complete.
Only two of the buildings -- the former Bennett Elementary School on Mabel Avenue and the former Cleveland Elementary School on West Princeton Avenue -- are closed.
The four open buildings are: Jackson Elementary School on Windsor Avenue, Martin Luther King Elementary School on Covington, Sheridan Elementary School on Hudson Avenue and West Elementary School on Hazelwood Avenue.
Another exchange proposition
Also at Wednesday's committee meeting, Joseph McRae, the city's park and recreation director, asked if the school district could return ownership of a former city-owned playground parcel near the Mary Haddow Elementary School on Oak Street.
The city gave the district the small playground parcel a few years ago as part of a new school construction project at the location. But the school was never built.
"We turned it over to the school without any objection or problem, and we want to have the same courtesy," McRae said.
DeNiro said the district hasn't determined if it's going to need the property and wouldn't have a decision on that for about three years. DeNiro invited the city to make playground improvements to the area. McRae said he doesn't want to invest money in improving that playground when it may never end up in the city's possession.
skolnick@vindy.com