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Boardman projects highlighted at update
BOARDMAN
A land swap between the township and school district was among the initiatives highlighted at “Good Evening Boardman,” an annual fall update to the community put on by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
“Everyone came to the table. … Everyone in that room knew it was the right thing to do,” said township Trustee Larry Moliterno. “What we were able to accomplish ... is unprecedented.”
The land exchange gave the township a property at the corner of Market Street and Stadium Drive, where construction will start next spring on a fire station to replace the one on U.S. Route 224. The school district got a property off Tod Avenue, which it will use for a bus garage to replace its garage on McClurg Road.
Township officials tout the savings the move allows, as they will put the proceeds from the sale of the old fire station toward the cost of the new one. School officials say they are eager to move their buses from busy McClurg Road, which is often congested by hospital and YMCA traffic.
Moliterno was joined by schools Superintendent Tim Saxton and Boardman Park Commissioner Trent Cailor in delivering updates to township residents and business leaders. Thursday’s event at Magic Tree Pub & Eatery was sponsored by chamber partner First National Bank.
Saxton addressed concerns that community members might have had about the district’s 2015-16 state report card, which, like many other districts in the Mahoning Valley, featured lower grades than in previous years.
“We had an A. We went to an F,” Saxton said of one of the grading categories. “We didn’t change our teachers overnight. … There’s something [happening] there, and we’re working hard to figure out what that is. We’ve got to figure out why this is being recorded as an F.”
Saxton also highlighted the progress that’s been made toward completion of the new high-school stadium; this school year’s realignment of Glenwood and Center schools that put all fifth- and sixth-grade students at Center, and seventh- and eighth-graders at Glenwood; and the district’s commitment to teaching the arts.
Cailor drew attention to recent additions to the park, including wifi, security cameras, and an area for pickleball. Also, the park recently received a donation of a 16-acre property on Southern Boulevard near Western Reserve Road that the park will maintain as wetlands and a nature preserve. Cailor noted that volunteers are in the process of raising money to add disc golf, a game in which players throw flying discs at targets, to the park.
“The whole layout of the park is used, so people will be moving all over the place,” he said.
He highlighted the fact that the park has never asked taxpayers for more than the equivalent of a 1-mill levy since it was founded in the 1940s.
“We’ve never increased our budget, yet we have 450,000 people coming” each year, he said.
Also, Moliterno spotlighted several new businesses and renovated properties in the township, such as a BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse that’s under construction near Southern Park Mall.
“What’s exciting is, we are building for the future,” he said.