Annexation plan between city, Austintown hits snag

Township trustees are
disappointed that the city won’t commit to a joint
development deal.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

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 North Meridian Road, near Salt Springs Road, is a good start, township trustees say.

But there’s still a long way to go.

B.J. Alan, a fireworks company whose headquarters are 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 buy 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.

Township trustees as well as city and B.J. Alan officials have no problem with the annexation.

But the trus-
tees want Youngstown officials to put a stipulation in the annexation deal that the two governmental entities would work together to create an economic development district in the undeveloped township land nearby.

The trustees made that pitch Monday to Youngstown Finance Director David Bozanich during a meeting to discuss the annexation.

The inclusion of such language in the B.J. Alan deal is important because it would ensure that the city wouldn’t look to annex any further township property nearby, said Trustee Warren Pritchard.

Also, a joint economic development deal would bring life to that part of the township, he said.

The township portion of that area is more than 90 percent vacant, but across the street on the city side, there are a number of industrial and commercial companies that grew, in part, with the assistance of city grants and tax incentives.

Under an economic development deal with the township, the city would install infrastructure and charge its income tax, currently 2.75 percent, for those who work in a development district. It could also offer financial incentives to companies to relocate there. The township would get the property tax on the land.

Although the city has looked at a joint economic development proposal for that Austintown land for several years, Bozanich said Monday that it was “doubtful” that such language would be in the B.J. Alan annexation deal.

“But we think it would make a lot of sense to have” such a development between the two entities there, he said.

He also assured trustees that the city has “absolutely” no intention of annexing any other township land and is only seeking this annexation because of the state restrictions on B.J. Alan.

Trustee David Ditzler said Bozanich’s unwillingness to include the economic development language in the B.J. Alan deal makes him wonder about true intentions of the city.

“We got our answer,” added Trustee Lisa Oles. “They’re pretty noncommittal, and that’s disappointing. We’d like to see cooperation from the city.”

The trustees in Austintown as well as Boardman remain concerned about Youngstown’s efforts to use its water system as an economic development tool in those communities. A report outlining locations for proposed developments was originally supposed to be done in November 2006.

Bozanich said Monday that the report would be done in the next 30 days, the latest of numerous time frames given by the city for the study’s release.

Until the report is finalized, the city can’t make any commitments to development deals in the townships, he said.

As for B.J. Alan, while the property sale needs to go through, the company plans to start construction on the showroom next spring.

The building could be as large as 15,000 square feet, Weimer said. State law forbids the company from using any space more than 5,000 square feet for the retail showroom part of the project. Any other space would be used for warehousing and offices, he said.

The proposed showroom would be near Interstates 80 and 680, making it more accessible to customers, Weimer said.

The company would use the current showroom location for office space, he said.

skolnick@vindy.com