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Trustees approve zone change 2-1 along state Route 46
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Township trustees voted 2-1 in favor of a zone change for seven parcels along state Route 46 from residential to business.
Trustee Jim Davis voted against the four motions, each related to the owner of each parcel or sets of parcels.
He said after the votes: “A lot of [residents’] comments [against the changes] are a lot of the comments I made when running for trustee five years ago ... [the township] was a lot of mom-and-pop places — it was a great place to call home.”
Davis continued, “There’s vacant businesses. There’s other plazas.”
“If the demand is so high, then why aren’t these [available commercial] areas being bought and developed?” questioned Kasey Clark of 145 Ohltown Road before the vote.
“A little over 10 years ago, I purchased my home on Ohltown Road,” Clark said. “I was purchasing not a piece of property with a house on it, I was purchasing a place I would call home.”
Residents against the change and Davis cited available businesses on Mahoning Avenue, around the Interstate 80 and state Route 46 interchange and Raccoon Road.
Residents for and against the zone change spoke at length about noise levels and increases in traffic throughout the area. Most residents who spoke at the meeting live on Norquest Boulevard, state Route 46 and Ohltown Road.
“I understand their frustrations, but our problems are magnified many times over being on [Route] 46,” Manford Michalski, of 166 N. Canfield-Niles Road, said of the residents on Norquest Boulevard and Ohltown Road. “I’m not even going to give my son that home, or for his son, because it’s just not conducive to a family setting.”
Trustee Ken Carano noted, “Although it sounds like they’re having the same argument, they aren’t. ... The fact is, whatever we do tonight, [the noise and traffic issues] will not change.”
About 20 people attended the public hearing on the proposed zone change from residential to business, B-1, which is professional services such as lawyer and dentist offices — and retail is not allowed. Trustees approved the township’s zoning commission recommendation of that switch to B-1 from its Sept. 4 meeting. That was after the Mahoning County Planning Commission recommended against any zone change at its meeting Aug. 26.
The four owners originally asked for a change to B-2, general business classification, but said they were fine with B-1 during deliberation by township zoning officials Sept. 4.
The four owners own seven parcels totaling 4.7 acres north of Norquest Boulevard along Route 46. The properties begin two lots north of that intersection on the west side of Route 46 and are six-tenths of a mile from Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course.
The four approved votes all come with a buffer zone, and trustees altered one of the zone changes to allow for an additional buffer on another side of one of the properties.
The four property owners now have 30 days from Sept. 29 to begin looking at business propositions for their respective properties. Chris Morris of 164 N. Canfield-Niles Road said after the meeting that the four owners will meet as a group in the spring and decide their next step.
The owners are: Chris and Virginia Morris, of 164 N. Canfield-Niles Road, one parcel of 1.858 acres; Manfred and Judith Michalski, of 166 N. Canfield-Niles Road, two parcels of 1.241 acres; Joseph Mariotti, 176 N. Canfiled-Niles Road, three parcels of 1.327 acres; and Janet Settimo, 180 N. Canfield-Niles Road, one parcel of 0.398 acres.
Morris said, “It will be beneficial for the township. To me, it’s a matter of time. ... I think you got the turnpike, Route 11, Route 80, all converging on this spot, so I can see why it can’t fail.”