Austintown gains greater access to Land Bank money

AUSTINTOWN — Over the next two years, Austintown will receive greater assistance from the Mahoning County Land Bank to demolish vacant houses over the next two years.

Debora Flora, land bank executive director, said the organization is eligible to receive up to $10 million through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency through a demolition reimbursement award. The land bank has to use the money by mid-2019.

In 2014, the OHFA awarded the land bank $4.26 million. With that money, only township properties both north of Mahoning Avenue and east of Raccoon Road were eligible to receive assistance. The new funding will allow the land bank to cover all properties north of Mahoning Avenue or east of Raccoon Road. It also extends to houses in the area bordered by state Route 11 on the west and New Road on the south.

Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli called the expansion a drastic increase. He said officials submitted to the land bank a list of 20 properties the township would like to see demolished.

“We didn’t feel we were getting a respectable percentage of the funds that were available [in the past],” he said.

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