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Design Review Committee: Downtown property owner violated code
YOUNGSTOWN
A downtown property owner is expected in municipal court Aug. 10 to be arraigned on a charge that she violated the city Design Review Committee’s code by installing vinyl siding on the building she owns at 25 W. Federal St.
The committee told Denise Powell of Youngstown in 2008 that she had to use Hardie board, a hard fiber- cement siding, on the building’s exterior. She wanted vinyl siding. That request was rejected by the committee, which oversees exterior work in the city’s downtown and surrounding areas.
Powell had vinyl siding installed in mid-June on most of the front of the building, in violation of the DRC code. She was cited for the minor misdemeanor after refusing to comply with the code and will be in court next week.
If found guilty, Powell could be fined $100 a day for the violation.
But that’s not likely to be the end of Powell’s legal issues with the city.
The city gave Powell a $100,000 grant in 2007 after she promised to spend about $568,000 to purchase and improve the vacant downtown building, said T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s economic development director.
Powell purchased the building July 19, 2007, for $191,000, according to information on the Mahoning County auditor’s website.
Powell has done some interior work, but hasn’t provided documentation regarding the building’s exterior and likely hasn’t spent close to $568,000, Woodberry said.
“The matter has been referred to our law department,” Woodberry said.
The city is looking at getting back the $100,000 it gave Powell, but is waiting to take legal action against her until the DRC case is resolved, Woodberry said.
Attempts Tuesday by The Vindicator to contact Powell were unsuccessful.
“As a board, we take our job seriously,” said Bill D’Avignon, the committee’s chairman and the city’s Community Development Agency’s director. “The look of downtown must be maintained, and the courts need to support that effort.”
Also Tuesday, the committee approved a request from the Mahoning Valley Historical Society to replace the granite sign outside its Arms Family Museum at 648 Wick Ave.
The society will spend about $15,000 for a stone, wood and aluminum sign with lighting, said H. William Lawson, the society’s director.
Installation of the sign should begin at the end of the month and take about 30 days to finish, he said. The society hasn’t decided what to do with the granite sign that was installed in 1964, Lawson said.