Monday, March 13, 2006
The proposal is closely tied to the university's Centennial Master Plan.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city will hold a meeting Thursday to get public comment about a proposal to turn a 38-acre area into an urban renewal development district.
The area in question is bounded roughly by Lincoln, Fifth and Wick avenues and Commerce Street. This is the city's plan, but it is closely tied to Youngstown State University's Centennial Master Plan, which calls for development in that targeted location. The YSU plan includes a new College of Business Administration in that area.
The meeting is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Chevrolet Centre's community room on East Front Street.
At the meeting, officials with the city and D.B. Hartt Inc., the Cleveland company hired to develop the plan, will discuss it and answer questions from those in attendance about the proposal.
In December and January, the city's planning commission postponed votes to recommend the proposal to city council. The commission wanted more public input on the proposal before taking a vote.
Funding opportunity
The urban renewal proposal is a significant step that would allow the project to be eligible for state and federal funding, and permit the city to seize certain properties, if necessary, under eminent domain, according to William D'Avignon, the city's deputy director of planning. That is why the process must be done carefully and properly, he said.
The plan details what locations and structures in the area are considered to have blight and if those areas need remediation such as asbestos removal or demolition. Later phases would determine how that remediation should be implemented and how it would be funded.
The area is a mix of vacant and abandoned properties, some businesses, the YWCA, and property owned by YSU and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.
Wick project
The commission also postponed votes in December and January to turn the Wick District-Smoky Hollow area into an urban renewal development district for the same reasons. A public meeting on that project will be held in the near future.
The last time the city approved an urban renewal district was in 1996 on the west end of downtown. That eventually led to the reopening of Federal Plaza and the demolition of the Masters building complex.
skolnick@vindy.com