Fireworks company needs land to expand

AUSTINTOWN — As far back as township officials can remember, about 80 acres on the Austintown side of North Meridian Road have sat empty.

A proposal by B.J. Alan Co. to build a retail fireworks showroom on 1.93 acres on the corner of North Meridian and Salt Springs roads is a good start, township trustees say.

But there’s still a long way to go.

B.J. Alan, a fireworks company headquartered in Youngstown, wants to relocate its retail showroom from a 2,800-square-foot building on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in downtown Youngstown to a new building at the Austintown location.

Construction is expected to start next spring. The company is negotiating with two landowners to purchase the property.

The catch is state law requires the relocation of the showroom to be in Youngstown, according to William A. Weimer, the company’s vice president and general counsel, and Anthony Donofrio, its deputy legal counsel. For B.J. Alan to build on the Meridian property, Youngstown would have to annex it into the city from Austintown Township.

For more, see Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com