Officials to unveil Federal Street options

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — City administration officials will unveil options Monday for a project for a portion of West Federal Street that includes the removal of tree-lined medians.

Mayor Jay Williams instructed city planning and engineering officials to present a preliminary report on possible changes to the suddenly controversial project at Monday’s city council buildings and grounds committee meeting.

The meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. in council’s caucus room and is open to the public.

The project was publicly introduced in July 2005 and was altered this past February to include more green space and less parking.

A plan to advertise beginning Wednesday for contractors for this project came to a halt, however, because of objections by several people in recent weeks about the removal of the medians.

The $550,000 project includes removing the medians with 22 trees on West Federal Street between Fifth Avenue and Phelps Street and replacing them with smaller ones. The plan changed parking in that area from 42 parallel spots to 66 diagonal ones. Also, green space was to be added for 24 trees near the parking area.

The city wants to pave that portion of the street that hasn’t been resurfaced in about two decades and make needed improvements to electrical conduits, catch basins and storm sewers.

New plans

Williams said he has instructed city engineering and planning officials to come up with plans for a project that includes the roadway and infrastructure improvements with additional green space and possible ways to maintain the 22 mature trees in the medians.

Options must be within the $550,000 cost of the project, Williams said.

The original plan was to do the infrastructure work beginning in September and the rest of the project next spring. But there is some flexibility with time that could push the project’s completion date back about three to four months, Williams said.

The mayor expects a final plan to be done by the end of the month.

skolnick@vindy.com