City pursues river land for recreation use

The city hopes to create a park on the property.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- A waste company has been pushing to put a landfill on about 20 acres adjacent to the Mahoning River, but the city hopes to use that land for recreational purposes.
Mayor James Melfi said the city recently filed paperwork in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to take the land by eminent domain. He said the plan to acquire the land is not an attempt to stop the landfill but is keeping in step with a recreational-use plan developed by the county several years ago.
"This is something I proposed back in the spring, the city acquiring that property along the river for future use. With that we would be able to tie in Tod Memorial Park with the property along the Mahoning River for uses such as biking and boating," the mayor said.
Eminent domain is the right of government to take or authorize the taking of private property for public use, with just compensation usually being given to the owner.
Multiple uses
Should the city acquire the property, Melfi said, it could be used for more than just recreational purposes. The schools, for example, could use the land to create science labs, he added.
Melfi said the city received a comprehensive development plan prepared by the county planning commission in June 2000 that suggested the city acquire the land along the river for recreational use.
The city, he said, went into fiscal emergency in 2001 and could not afford to go forward with the plan, but city officials are hoping to emerge from fiscal emergency next year, he said, with enough money to cover the cost of the project.
The city claims, in the common pleas court filing, that the property is worth about 41,500. Melfi said the city already has spent about 40,000 in legal, engineering and appraisal fees for the project.
Donation offered
Earlier this year, Melfi said an anonymous city resident had come forward and agreed to donate the total purchase cost of the 41 acres along the river to the city. Melfi at that time said the land will cost an estimated 1,000 per acre.
Melfi said the land along the river became more attractive when the bridge at Squaw Creek was replaced during the U.S. Route 422 widening project, leaving room under the bridge for a path to the property along the river.
"The access from Tod Park will allow people to park at the park, cross 422 safely and have use of those open lands and land along the river," he said.
The mayor added that city leaders also plan a second phase to the recreation plan. He said the city will likely seek part of the Leatherworks property on U.S. Route 422 via eminent domain to add to the project.
Melfi, who has been opposed to plans by Total Waste Logistics to place a landfill on the same land, said he is leaving all landfill issues to the health department and focusing on the park and recreation plans.
jgoodwin@vindy.com