Friday, October 26, 2007
The study will take 45 days.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN — The city will spend $32,180 to determine if 55 acres near a business park being offered to the municipality for free are environmentally safe.
The board of control approved the payment Thur sday to MS Consultants of Youngstown to conduct an environmental study of the former Youngstown Sinter Facility off Division Street and near the city’s Ohio Works Business Park.
The property received national attention as it was shown during an HBO profile piece the cable network did on Kelly Pavlik shortly before the Youngstown resident won the middleweight boxing championship Sept. 29.
The current property owner wants to give the land to the city for no cost.
If the city accepts the land, it would become part of the Ohio Works Business Park, which has about 152 acres, said city Finance Director David Bozanich, a board of control member.
The city is in preliminary discussions with companies interested in the 55 acres, he said.
The environmental study will take 45 days and will determine if there is any hazardous material that needs to be removed.
“If it comes back OK, we’ll accept it,” Bozanich said.
WCI Steel closed the site about five years ago. It is owned by Snyder Demolition and Revitalization, a Pittsburgh company that is demolishing the former 100,000-square-foot facility. Snyder will haul away the scrap and then sell it.
Also Thursday, the board of control agreed to hire MS Consultants to receive up to $94,537 for detailed design work to extend Hazel Street to provide a link between downtown and Youngstown State University.
MS has until Jan. 18 to finish the design work.
skolnick@vindy.com