Council wants input on YSU plan

Council is expected to adopt the legislative changes June 21.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council will require a plan to link Youngstown State University to downtown to undergo further study and additional public input before it can be implemented.
"It will allow the city to do its due diligence and make sure the people in that area have an opportunity to participate," said Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., whose ward includes that part of the city.
Gillam, D-1st, proposed amendments at Wednesday's council meeting to four pieces of legislation dealing with the development of 38 acres bounded roughly by Commerce Street as well as Lincoln, Fifth and Wick avenues.
The amendments were unanimously approved by council, but the legislative body fell one vote short of implementing the changes through emergency legislation.
Councilman Rufus Hudson, D-2nd, voted against approving the legislation via emergency and Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd and a supporter of the project, didn't attend Wednesday's meeting. At least six votes are needed from the seven-member council to adopt legislation as emergency measures.
Instead, council will vote June 21 to adopt the four pieces of legislation.
Studies and results
The city planning commission recommended council change the area's zoning designation to industrial.
The amendments do not require specific action and authorizes the city's board of control to make those determinations.
While council wants further studies and more public participation on the proposal, known as the Lincoln-Rayen-Wood development district, the project has already received both.
The zoning change of that area is included in the Youngstown 2010 comprehensive land plan. Also, the city paid for a study of that specific area. The study came to the same conclusions about the area as the Youngstown 2010 plan.
The proposal was the subject of three public hearings, a meeting organized last week by Gillam, and council has permitted public comments on the proposal at its last three meetings, including Wednesday.
Council heard opposition to the proposal Wednesday from four business operators.
The legislation would permit the city to take property if necessary through eminent domain, something strongly opposed by those with businesses in the area.
YSU wants to build a $30 million new College of Business Administration on Phelps Street as this plan's major project.
Greg Margione, YSU's associate general counsel, said the university doesn't object to further public comment, and this wouldn't affect the proposed construction project.
The university wants to buy the needed land for the college by early next year, break ground in the summer of 2007, and finish the project in 2008, he said.
The proposal also calls for an extension of Hazel Street to provide another connection between YSU and downtown. But Gillam said he is unsure if the extension would happen.
Also Wednesday, council appointed retired Atty. Jack R. Vaughn as its representative on the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District's board of directors. Vaughn spent 16 years on the city's civil service commission.
MVSD board members receive $200 a meeting, up to $2,400 annually. The district provides water to about 300,000 Mahoning and Trumbull counties residents through Youngstown and Niles, its member cities.
Harry L. Johnson III resigned the position in January after nearly eight years on the board to become the auditor and office manager of the city's water department.
skolnick@vindy.com