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Construction coming to McClurg Road in Boardman this summer
BOARDMAN
Two new construction projects will come to the McClurg Road area in Boardman this summer.
Mercy Health Youngstown got approval Thursday from the township’s site-plan review committee for a proposal to expand the parking area that serves St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital and the Davis Family YMCA on McClurg.
The plan is to add 300 employee parking spaces, a zoning requirement since the facility expanded with the addition of a tower. The hospital previously added visitor parking. The project also will bring the number of access points to the campus from McClurg up to three.
The project, which has an estimated $3 million cost, will require some reconfiguration of the space shared by the hospital and the YMCA.
The YMCA’s playground, the space for which it leases from Mercy Health, will be relocated to accommodate the new parking area. The parking spaces will be added between the YMCA and the school-bus parking garage next to it. The hospital also plans to add signage to the campus to better direct traffic at both facilities.
“We’re trying to work very closely with the Y to meet their needs,” said Wayne Tennant, vice president of support services for Mercy Health.
“I think it’s a good solution, and working collaboratively with the YMCA has been very helpful,” he said.
One issue raised by the site-plan review committee was that the project might affect school buses that use the McClurg Road garage, but representatives for Mercy Health said they plan to consult the school district before they proceed with construction.
The project is set to begin in early spring.
Another issue raised was traffic congestion, since another construction project is set to begin early this summer.
Mercy Health representatives said they will plan around the other project, which is the widening of McClurg Road between Market Street and just west of Southern Boulevard.
The Ohio Department of Transportation project, at an estimated $700,000 cost, will include the addition of a turn lane on McClurg and signal upgrades at the intersection of Market and McClurg.
Township Zoning Inspector Sarah Gartland said traffic was a concern on McClurg because of the YMCA, the hospital and school buses.
“A center turn lane should really help,” she said.
Both projects are scheduled to be complete by November.