Port authority applying for $770,000 grant

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The fate of a proposed military deployment hub at the Youngstown Warren Regional Airport is still not clear, but officials are taking steps to obtain a $770,000 grant that would help fund it.

John Moliterno, Western Reserve Port Authority executive director, said the authority is applying for the money from the Ohio Military Facilities Commission.

The commission was created in 2015 by the General Assembly to implement programs to pay for capital and infrastructure improvements at the state’s military and defense installations.

Moliterno said the commission is able to distribute $5 million per year. Local officials should learn around June 1 whether the funding was approved.

The port authority bought the 24,650-foot former air cargo building on Ridge Road on the west side of the airport several years ago for about $1 million to resolve problems the Federal Aviation Administration had with the airport selling the building to the private company Millwood Enterprises for nonaviation uses.

The FAA had a say in it because it provided millions for construction of an 11-acre air-cargo apron next to the building decades ago.

The former commander of the 910th Airlift Wing at the air base, Col. James Dignan, proposed using the building and apron as a deployment hub for troops from all branches of the military from Northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania, northwestern New York and nearby parts of West Virginia.

One of the key benefits of the center is to make the air base more valuable so that it would have a better chance of remaining open in the future as federal officials continue to close military installations across the country.

The Trumbull County commissioners in August authorized turning over $78,000 in hotel-motel taxes per year to the port authority to help pay for the building so the authority could turn it over to the Air Force for free.

It’s unclear what would happen to the $78,000 per year in hotel-motel taxes if they were no longer used for the air cargo building.

The General Assembly awarded $250,000 to the deployment hub project in May 2016.

While waiting for the U.S. Defense Department to complete the steps necessary to accept the facility, officials have also discussed the possibility of having the Ohio National Guard take over the facility, but nothing has been finalized, Moliterno said.