City planning commission recommends rezoning to industrial green

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The city planning commission recommended rezoning one parcel of East Side property to allow green industrial business, but there’s been no decision on the rezoning of the acreage that had many residents concerned.

The land the commission recommended to city council for rezoning from residential to industrial green at Tuesday’s meeting is between Oak Street, Himrod Avenue, Fruit Street and the Madison Avenue Expressway. Green industrial businesses include restaurants, warehouse and storage facilities, recycling centers and retail.

It was the southern acreage that had residents at last month’s planning commission meeting upset.

The fate of that section hasn’t been determined. It’s around Himrod and Wilson avenues and South Pearl, Rigby and South Prospect streets.

Bill D’Avignon, community development agency director, said Mayor John A. McNally plans a meeting to answer residents’ questions.

“It is the city’s intention to schedule a meeting to be held probably at one of the churches in the neighborhood,” he said.

Earlier this year, city council approved designating 21 acres around Himrod Avenue and North Prospect, Oak and North Fruit streets as an urban-renewal zone based on the commission’s recommendation.

That allows the city to negotiate the purchase of 19 properties from their owners and take them by paying fair market value if necessary and relocating residents.

That doesn’t mean that’s an inevitability though, officials said.

Residents are concerned they’ll be removed from their homes if the zone change occurs and a business wants to locate there. About 50 East Side residents attended last month’s meeting, but only two attended Tuesday’s.

Tiffany Quinones, a Pearl Street resident, was one of them.

“It’s my grandmother’s home, and it has always been in our home,” she said. “I live with my aunt who is a disabled veteran.”

Many elderly live in the neighborhood and some of them are disabled. They’re home bound and can’t get to a community meeting, she said.

Quinones said she doesn’t know what fair market value would be, but it likely wouldn’t be enough to buy a new home outright.

Martin Hume, city law director, said the southern portion of the land hasn’t been through the required processes for the city to secure homes by paying fair market value.

D’Avignon said nine residents live in the area where the commission recommended the zone change.