Valley is its kind of place

McDonald’s wants Jackson Twp. land for $9M warehouse

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — By a 4-3 vote, the Mahoning County Planning Commission has recommended rezoning 70 acres from single-family residential to industrial for construction of a $9 million warehouse in Jackson Township to serve McDonald’s restaurants.

The warehouse, proposed at South Bailey and Blott roads, would have refrigerated and frozen-food sections, employ more than 100 people and serve 480 McDonald’s restaurants in Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania, said Christopher S. Semarjian, managing member of Industrial Commerce Ltd., a Cleveland real estate development company.

About 50 tractor-trailer trucks a day would visit the warehouse, which also would take deliveries from an active single-track railroad line on the property’s eastern boundary, he said Tuesday.

Industrial Commerce would buy the land from the Cadle family, which now owns it, build the warehouse and lease it to Anderson-DuBose Co. of Solon, the exclusive distributor for McDonald’s Corp. in this region.

The land is located about 1.25 miles south of Mahoning Avenue, just south of the FedEx truck terminal and the Republic Special Metals plant.

The land for which the rezoning is being sought consists of an occupied house, a barn and farmland.

Semarjian said the project would require more than 1,000 feet each of water supply and sanitary sewer extensions. A tax abatement also will be sought for it.

The Jackson Township Zoning Commission meets at 7 p.m. today in the township administration building to consider the zone-change request, upon which the township trustees will make the final decision.

Members of the county planning commission voting in favor of the zone change at its Austintown office were Dan O’Horo, commission vice chairman; county Commissioner John A. McNally IV, who made the motion; Gary Esasky, who seconded the motion; and Joseph Sylvester Jr.

Planning commission members voting against it were Louis Zarlenga, the commission’s second vice chairman, Atty. Mark Fortunato, and Angelo Pignatelli.

Absent were Robert Lidle Sr., planning commission chairman, and members Andrew Hamady, and county Commissioners Anthony T. Traficanti and David N. Ludt.

“It’s a wonderful investment. It’s a very clean and state-of-the-art facility,’’ Semarjian said. “It’s a long-term investment. McDonald’s views this as at least a 40-year commitment to this location. It’s in the center of their distribution hub,” he said of the location.

The railroad access is “what’s driving the location,” in terms of its desirability for the project, Semarjian said.

McNally said he supports the project because of the importance of job creation in the county and because Mahoning County needs the property tax revenue. “This company has the ability to be a good neighbor for us,” he added.

“It’s a major investment. It’s a $9 million project. It’s well over 100 jobs — good-paying jobs, and they’re going to be around for a long time,” Thomas Presby, manager of business development for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said in support of the project.

“It’s an industrial business dropping right in the center of a residential area” and farmland, said Paul Voland of Blott Road, who opposes the proposed warehouse. “We have a whole industrial park that’s sitting up the road that has plenty of land for use. There’s no reason for it to come any further down the road,” he added.

“It doesn’t comply with the land-use plan of Jackson Township,” Fortunato said, adding that the warehouse would be inconsistent with the surrounding residential area.

The Republic facility is under construction on nearby land that was previously zoned residential, Semarjian noted. He said he believes the truck traffic at the food warehouse would be “a fraction” of what FedEx has daily.