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Officials, businesses eagerly await Canfield water tower
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
A long-awaited water tower is coming to Canfield Township, but it might not be in place until the end of 2016.
Mahoning County commissioners on May 7 approved the $105,000 purchase of 0.9 acres from Florence V. Libb. That property is on Raccoon Road, just south of U.S. Route 224 near the exit ramp from northbound state Route 11. The elevated water-storage tank will be able to hold 500,000 gallons of water. Design work on the tank is ongoing.
“This project’s been in the works four to five years, I guess,” said Patrick T. Ginnetti, Mahoning County engineer and sanitary engineer. “If we can get all the site work and prep work done in the fall and winter, then we might look at a nine-month build.”
He said the influx of water will increase safety for businesses and residents. The water tower will increase water pressure for U.S. Route 224 from Raccoon Road to Tippecanoe Road.
Michael Naffah, president of Naffah Hospitality Group, which owns Inner Circle Pizza Canfield, Hampton Inn and Suites and The Inn at Ironwood, all on Ironwood Boulevard, has had water concerns for years.
“We’ve been trying to get a water tower. It was originally approved for the end of Summit Drive about 12 years ago, and we never knew what happened,” Naffah said. “It never got built, but I know that’s where it was supposed to be originally, and all of this was built with the assumption that the water tower would be built. ... God forbid if there was ever a fire.”
Dave Morrison, Canfield Township zoning inspector, said the Westford and Ironwood Boulevard developments were built around 2003 to 2004. The water tower “would spark interest in retail, and there are available parcels zoned retail,” Morrison said.
The extension of waterlines in the early 2000s was celebrated by township residents, but as more businesses opened on the stretch of U.S. Route 224 in the township, the water pressure dipped again.
“Until that’s done, it’s scary, to be honest with you. We’re concerned with the residents at the assisted living” center, Naffah said. “If there’s a little blip in the water, then everything shuts down.”
Cardinal Joint Fire District Chief Don Hutchison said there have been fires in that area: A building on Stutz Drive sustained an estimated $5 million loss after a fire in 2001; Do-Cut True Value Hardware, 6422 S. Raccoon Road, was destroyed by a blaze in 2011; and a storage facility fire behind Peaberry’s Cafe & Bakery, 4350 Boardman-Canfield, closed 224 from Summit Drive to Westford Drive for two hours in 2011.
Hutchison said the fire district hired Fire Protection and Design Consulting of Akron in the summer of 2013 for a study of fighting fires south of 224 and west of state Route 11. “The final conclusion was that the water system must be upgraded to boost the pressure for any future development ... and a water tower would be the most economical solution to this problem,” Hutchison said.
He also recalled a fire hydrant on Tippecanoe Road being struck, shutting down the line until the hydrant was replaced. With the water tower, “there will be water available if the waterline has to be shut down,” he said.
Whitefire Grille and Spirits, 6580 Ironwood Blvd., opened in 2013.
“In the kitchen, water is a huge issue, and anything that would help us meet the needs of the Mahoning Valley is welcome,” said Lisa Wallace, marketing and public relations manager for Whitefire.