New Trumbull planning director says countywide comprehensive plan, brownfield project will be top priorities

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The Trumbull County Planning Commission spends a lot of time helping various Trumbull government bodies — townships mostly — plan for their future by creating comprehensive plans for them at a nominal fee.

In about a year, the commission will begin researching and writing a comprehensive plan for the entire county — something Trumbull County hasn’t had since 1964.

“It’s 50 years out of date,” Trish Nuskievicz, the newly appointed director of the planning commission, said of the county’s last comprehensive plan.

Nuskievicz, who has worked for the commission for 17 years — starting as an unpaid intern 17 years ago just out of Kent State University — replaces Bill Miller, who had the job for five years.

Nuskievicz was named acting director in September, when Miller retired. The commission’s board of directors named her director last month. All three county commissioners are members of the planning commission. Nuskievicz makes $73,416 annually.

The planning commission, which works in the county-owned Wean Building on North Park Avenue, writes grants, handles zoning matters, foreclosure issues, demolition activity, economic development, mapping and writes comprehensive plans.

“It’s a blueprint for where we want to go,” Nuskievicz said of a comprehensive plan, which will take four to five years to complete.

One of the goals of a comprehensive plan is to create a land-use map that looks at the best ways to use all of the resources throughout the county and helps officials make good decisions about where to locate new development. It also contains a population projection and looks at the physical nature of the county and availability of water and sewer services.

The intent of the plan is to “give you the foundation to make good decisions and grow in the smartest way,” Nuskievicz said. The planning commission, which has seven employees, will work closely with the county engineer’s office and county sanitary engineer’s office.

Having a countywide comprehensive plan will aid in the progress of another of the major projects for the planning commission — a $600,000 assessment of former Trumbull County industrial sites focused mainly on the Golden Triangle area of Howland Township and Warren.

The $600,000 brownfield grant came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

While the assessments are being done, the brownfield coalition, consisting of the planning commission, Western Reserve Port Authority and officials from Howland and Warren, is also applying for a $1 million revolving loan fund to help pay for cleanup of the identified sites so that new businesses can make use of the properties.

Having a countywide comprehensive plan should help the county secure the funding for the loan fund, Nuskievicz said.

Nuskievicz, a Mecca Township resident, is a graduate of Lakeview High School.