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Youngstown planning commission to have a public hearing Tuesday on licensing downtown parking
YOUNGSTOWN
The city planning commission will have a public hearing Tuesday on a proposal to license downtown public parking lots and garages by charging $1 per space annually.
“The commission can hear from parking lot owners and other interested parties,” said Mayor John A. McNally, who is sponsoring the proposal.
City council took McNally’s recommendation Wednesday to defer a vote on the proposal until the planning commission’s hearing, which is scheduled to start at 1:50 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the sixth floor of city hall.
The proposal is designed to bring uniformity to the lots and garages, requiring each to abide by specific provisions on the size of signs and locations, McNally said.
Terry Coyne of Mary Coyne Investments, which owns several downtown parking lots, objects to the proposal. He also said his family’s company would not have taken down a long-vacant building at 23 W. Boardman St. earlier this month to add 21 spots if he knew about this proposal.
Council voted to give the board of control authority to grant a 12-year, 50-percent tax abatement to the Youngstown Business Incubator at the former Vindicator building at 29 Vindicator Square it purchased earlier this year.
The abatement would save YBI $5,000 a year in taxes. The agency plans to use the building for startup space for additive-manufacturing companies and graduate space for startup firms that have entered the market.
Also, council gave the board of control the power to spend up to $85,000 to help clean chemicals from the former Dempsey Steel property that is owned by Vallourec Star.
The board of control is scheduled to meet at 10:30 a.m. today to approve the expense.
The total cost of the cleanup is about $200,000, with Vallourec agreeing to pay the remainder while also seeking state funding to help defray the cost, said city Finance Director David Bozanich.
The property was part of a $1.1 billion expansion project by Vallourec.