By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Mahoning County commissioners approved a preliminary engineering study for the $12 million to $15 mil- lion, three-phase reconstruction of Meridian Road starting at the Trumbull County line and possibly continuing to Cornersburg.

“It’s in horrible condition,” county Engineer Patrick Ginnetti said of the main business corridor, which divides Youngstown and Austintown and connects with Interstates 680 and 80.

Commissioners approved a $32,872 agreement with MS Consultants Inc. of Youngstown for the preliminary engineering study.

“There’s a lot of industry growth off of Salt Springs Road,” he said, adding: “There’s a lot of commerce moving up and down that road.”

Actual construction is “a few years away,” and the consultant’s study will help identify funding sources for the project, Ginnetti said.

In the first phase, from the Trumbull County line to Interstate 680, driving lanes will get a full-depth reconstruction, and the middle lanes will be milled and repaved, if possible, he said. The project likely will include storm-sewer and utility upgrades in that phase, he added.

The second phase, from Interstate 680 to Mahoning Avenue, likely will be fully rebuilt, with utility and intersection upgrades, Ginnetti said.

The final phase, from Mahoning Avenue to Cornersburg, will be repaved, likely with storm-sewer upgrades, he added.

The commissioners approved the study during a Friday meeting at the Boardman Township Administration Building.

In other business, the commissioners authorized the Western Reserve Port Authority to consider making a bid to purchase the 8,540-square-foot former Jump Stretch Fitness Center, 1230 N. Meridian Road, at a 1 p.m. April 1 foreclosure auction at that 6.6-acre location. The minimum bid is $143,334.

If it buys the building, the authority would lease it to the county for use as a dog pound.

David Ditzler, chairman of the commissioners, said, however, that multiple locations are being considered for the new pound.

The commissioners approved spending $1 million to repair January’s freeze-and-thaw flood damage at the county jail, including $500,000 to replace the jail’s electronic security system.

The commissioners also approved an amendment to a 1930 agreement under which Sunoco will pay the county $43,120 for installation of a new 12-inch refined petroleum products pipeline through 2,156 feet of right of way across the county-owned Mill Creek MetroParks Farm in Canfield.

Sunoco has paid the park district $112,832 for 6,200 feet of new pipeline installation in the section of its right of way that crosses Hitchcock Woods.

Much of that compensation will be used toward ecological restoration of the site, but Sunoco has agreed to pay more, if necessary, for unforeseen damages the installation might cause, said Samantha L. Villella, the park district’s community engagement director.