Zone change approved, Walgreens to be built

Trustees will initiate zone change hearings on behalf of residents on the other side of Lexington Place.

AUSTINTOWN — A zone change for a Walgreens near Meridian Road was approved Tuesday by township trustees.

Visconsi Companies, a retail real estate developer from Pepper Pike, negotiated a deal to buy lots from 10 property owners on the east side of Lexington Place, which is a side street off Mahoning Avenue behind the BP gas station on the corner of Meridian and Mahoning.

Trustees gave the final approval, after the Mahoning County Planning Commission and the Austintown Zoning Commission, to change the zoning for the lots from residential to business.

Trustees also intend to initiate hearings for the west side of the street to change the zoning there as well, so those homeowners would have an easier time selling their properties.

The west side of the street, with about seven homes on it, would be the last residential properties in the area, and they would be surrounded by business and industrial development.

What’s next

Zoning inspector Mike Kurilla said at the zoning commission hearing earlier this month that the trustees have the authority under the Ohio Revised Code to ask for the change on behalf of residents there. The zoning commission did not have the authority, but asked the trustees to do it.

Visconsi had no interest in the properties on the west side of the street for the Walgreens development.

The development will also include some properties on North Meridian Road. The BP station will remain.

Visconsi has applied for some minor zoning variances, and that hearing will be June 7.

The development will include a 14,820-square-foot building. Mike Lewis, a development specialist with Visconsi, said construction should start in late summer or early fall. He said the store should be open by next summer.