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Downtown Lowellville gets a face lift thanks to grant
LOWELLVILLE
The village’s downtown has a new look, thanks to a summer of upgrade and revitalization projects.
Thanks to a Community Development Block Grant, the downtown has several new sidewalks, more than 40 new decorative light poles, a repaired set of stairs leading to city hall and upgraded storefronts and awnings.
Mayor James Iudiciani said the village used all $245,165 it received through the downtown revitalization CDBG.
Iudiciani thanked state representatives, Mahoning County commissioners and grant coordinator Anna DeAscentis for their assistance in securing the grant for the village.
Several businesses received significant upgrades through the grant. Carchedi’s Restaurant received a new roof, and Ross’s Market had a new HVAC system installed, for example, and most of downtown will be lit by new decorative light poles.
City hall also received repairs. In addition to the repairs to the stairs leading to the building’s entrance, new railings and soffits were installed.
Work on downtown revitalization will continue into next week when new parking lots will be paved across the street from Ross’s Market and the post office. The paving projects will cost $25,000 and will be entirely funded by the village.
In addition to parking lots, the village also spent $3,000 to fix the gazebo in Veteran’s Memorial Park.
Once the projects downtown wrap up, Iudiciani said the next project he hopes to tackle will be the $2.3 million removal of a dam in the Mahoning River.
“The dam removal is about to start. We’re going to have our last contracts signed next week, and then we should get the notification to begin work on it,” Iudiciani said.
The dam removal is the first step in a larger series of projects that will include the installation of a canoe livery, a small parking lot, picnic area and wooden walkways providing access to the river’s banks.