Land lease expected to be OK’d

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control was expected today to approve a deal to lease land from Mahoning County for a 1.5 million-gallon water tank, being built to better serve the South Side and Boardman.

Also on the board’s agenda is a request from Water Commissioner John Casciano to spend $17,550 toward the project, estimated to cost $3 million.

The city payment is a condition of a $1.17 million zero-percent state loan the city received for the project. The city money is equal to 1.5 percent of the state loan.

The next steps, Casciano said, are to create the project’s designs and to apply for an Ohio Water Development Association low-interest loan.

The county agreed to a tentative lease agreement in July and is expected to finalize the deal shortly.

The proposal calls for the city to pay no money to the county for the 1.417 acres on Erskine Avenue in Boardman.

There is no time frame for building the tank, Casciano said.

When the project was first discussed last year, Boardman officials urged the county to not sell the land to Youngstown. Boardman officials are expressing fear a sale could lead to Youngstown’s annexing portions of the township. But they have no opposition to a lease.

The proposed 1.5 million-gallon tower would replace two 500,000-gallon tanks, one on Erskine and the other on Indianola Avenue on the city’s South Side, which would eventually be razed.

The larger tank would allow the city to provide better water pressure to its customers, Casciano said.