B.J. Alan proposes land annexation

By Peter H. Milliken

The commissioners have 30 days to rule on the annexation petition.

AUSTINTOWN — A new fireworks store on Meridian Road would be a good deal for Austintown and Youngstown because it would make productive use of land that has become an illegal dumping area, a fireworks- company official said.

“All we want to do is take a pretty dead area, invest money, hire people, put a business there, improve the looks and, hopefully, stimulate some additional development,” said Atty. William Weimer, vice president and general counsel for B.J. Alan Fireworks Co., which is proposing to build the new $1.5 million Phantom Fireworks store.

Weimer spoke at a Mahoning County commissioners’ hearing Wednesday in Austintown Township Hall concerning the company’s proposal to annex the 6.4 acres of vacant land at Meridian and Lanterman roads from Austintown to Youngstown to enable the store to be built.

The company proposes to close a fireworks store in a former Greyhound bus station adjacent to B.J. Alan’s downtown Youngstown headquarters and open the new store at the Meridian Road location, where retail space would double and customers would have direct access from Interstates 80 and 680.

Because the Ohio state fire marshal has a moratorium on issuance of new fireworks licenses and because current licenses can be transferred only within the community for which they were issued, Weimer said the land on the west side of Meridian Road must be annexed to Youngstown for the store to be built there.

Meridian Road forms the boundary between Youngstown and Austintown.

Under the traditional form of annexation B.J. Alan has applied for, Youngstown would collect its 2.75 percent income tax from the new store’s workers. Also under that application, the township’s share of the property-tax revenue would decline gradually as the city’s share increases over a 12-year period. After 12 years, the township would get none of the property-tax revenue under traditional annexation.

Weimer said he has not calculated how much real-estate tax the proposed store would pay annually.

Atty. Mark Finamore, who represents the Austintown trustees, proposed an alternative known as Type 2 annexation, under which the city would get all the income-tax revenue and the city and township would share equally and permanently in the real-estate tax revenue.

Although he hasn’t received confirmation in writing from the state fire marshal’s office, Finamore said the fire marshal’s lawyer told him a Type 2 annexation should not affect B.J. Alan’s Youngstown license.

Weimer said he was unaware of the Type 2 option when he filed his regular annexation petition and that he isn’t inclined to delay the company’s project by filing a new petition.

The county commissioners have 30 days to rule on Weimer’s annexation petition.

Weimer said the Meridian Road store would be open and staffed year-round by several full-time employees, with staff swelling to as many as 50 employees during the peak pre- Independence Day season.

In contrast, the downtown store has 20 to 25 employees in the peak season but is opened only on an on-call basis during the off season.

milliken@vindy.com