City planners work on proposal for West Federal Street project

Any changes to the project have to be within its $550,000 budget.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — City planners will recommend by Sept. 17 what should be done with a project for the western portion of a main downtown street that includes the removal of tree-lined medians.

City council’s buildings and grounds committee met Monday to hear the status of the West Federal Street project from city administration officials.

The city was prepared to hire a contracting company next month to start this project, first introduced more than two years ago. But after complaints from numerous people at an Aug. 6 public hearing on the project, the plans have stalled.

The biggest objection from those at the public meeting was the removal of the medians with 22 trees between Fifth Avenue and Phelps Street.

City administrators should have a revised proposal ready during the next three to four weeks, Mayor Jay Williams said. The proposal will be discussed at a Sept. 17 meeting of council’s buildings and grounds committee.

A revision will push the completion date of the project to next summer. The $550,000 project was to be done by next spring.

Any changes to the project would have to be within its budget, said Bill D’Avignon, the city’s Community Development Agency director who also oversees the city’s planning department.

Other aspects affected

After the committee meeting, D’Avignon said the city can’t maintain the medians as is and meet the key aspects of the project, particularly going from 42 parallel parking spots in that area to 66 diagonal ones. The project also includes improvements to catch basins, storm sewers and electrical conduits.

D’Avignon questioned the need for additional parking spots in that area.

He was noncommittal Monday about what would be included in the final recommendation for the project.

The city wants to pave that portion of West Federal Street because it hasn’t been resurfaced in about two decades. Also, the improvement work — most notably the electrical conduits — is desperately needed, city officials said.

The city had planned to remove the current medians and replace them with smaller ones. The plan included space for plants and bushes in the smaller medians and space for about 24 trees near the parking areas.

The public wasn’t permitted to speak at the committee meeting. About two dozen people opposed to removing the tree-lined medians attended Monday’s meeting.

After the meeting, Phil Kidd, a local activist instrumental in objecting to removing the medians, said he and others will present ideas to city planners for the project during the next few weeks. He declined to describe any of the ideas.

skolnick@vindy.com