SitemapCity council authorized the board of control to enter into contracts for up to $1 million from Youngstown’s American Rescue Plan fund to demolish about 75 to 100 vacant homes. But city council members Wednesday remained at an impasse on how much ARP money — if any — should be spent to hire an architectural firm for a proposed safety campus. Council voted 6-0 for the board of control to hire contractors to demolish abandoned houses at a cost of up to $1 million as well as to spend up to $100,000, also in ARP funds, for asbestos testing on about 100 vacant structures. The work will be done this year. The funding for the two ordinances comes from the $3 million city council set aside in ARP money to address issues with the worst vacant homes in Youngstown.
Michael Durkin, the city’s code enforcement and blight remediation superintendent, said he expected the asbestos testing to begin in April and the demolition work to start by June or July. More than 2,600 vacant houses have been demolished in the city since 2017, according to Durkin’s statistics, including 264 last year. Of those 264 in 2023, 176 demolitions used city ARP funds. In addition to the $3 million from the city — with about $500,000 left after this work is finished — the Mahoning County Land Bank received a $6.9 million state grant with $5.3 million included to demolish about 500 homes in Youngstown. The land bank did 61 demolitions last year and expects to do about 350 this year with the rest in 2025, Durkin said. After all of that work is finished, there will be approximately 50 houses in the city that will need to be demolished, Durkin said.
City council is likely to reallocate the remaining $500,000 in ARP funds that are left for demolitions for other projects. The city has to allocate all of its $87.8 million ARP fund by the end of this year.
SAFETY CAMPUS: The city administration is recommending council approve spending $3 million in ARP funds to hire an architectural firm for a proposed safety campus. As it did at its Feb. 21 meeting, council on Wednesday declined to approve the request. A third and final reading is set for a special council meeting on March 26. Not all council members support the safety campus proposed for Wick Avenue on the city’s North Side or spending $3 million for design work. Council members on Wednesday discussed possibly spending $1 million, $1.5 million or $3 million on the design work with Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward, and Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, saying they oppose the project as it currently stands. The location proposed by the administration is on Wick Avenue at what was known as the Wick Six, a group of new car dealerships that left in the 1980s. The city purchased much of the 12 acres of property in 2015 and has spent at least $750,000, mostly from grants, to clean it up for development. Kelly and Davis oppose that location. The two and other council members want other location options for the safety complex. But Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said the “only real location we have is on Wick Avenue.” Finance Director Kyle Miasek said the city has to allocate the ARP money by the end of this year and to go with another site would put the “project in jeopardy.”
The project is estimated to cost $30 million to $45 million with Brown asking city council in December to commit up to $15 million in ARP funds for the facility when an outline for it was unveiled. That financial commitment has met with resistance from a majority of council members. Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, who suggested $1.5 million be spent for the design work, said $30 million “is pretty much the Taj Mahal,” and instead of a combined police station-main fire station there could be an option to just build a police station and upgrade the main fire station downtown. Brown said at the Feb. 21 meeting that the $3 million for the design work would help nail down the actual cost of the project as well as consider alternate locations. The administration’s plan would be to use ARP money as well as state and federal grants with the rest borrowed by the city over a 20-year period. The project would take eight to 10 months to design and then 18 to 24 months to construct. Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward and a strong supporter of the project, said he expects it will get done at the Wick Avenue location and council will approve it at the March 26 meeting. Kelly said: “I’m not on board with spending the money. They’re giving us no alternate sites so why give $3 million? I’m a no for $3 million. They better come down a little bit. I can’t say a number. I say, ‘Give me some sites and other options.'”
At Wednesday’s meeting, council allowed the board of control to waive bidding and pay $96,535 to Schindler Elevator Corp. to replace the doors on the police department’s elevator. Brown said the city is trying to postpone any major improvements to the police station because of the proposed safety campus. “The building is so old,” Brown said. “We want to limit our losses.” Also Wednesday, council supported Kelly’s legislation to spend $15,000 from the city’s 5th Ward ARP fund to purchase a bomb-sniffing dog for the city’s police department. Council voted April 6, 2022 to give each of its seven members $2 million in ARP funds for ward projects.
Council gave a second reading Wednesday to give $52,000 from Davis’ ward ARP fund for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to do renovations and improvements to Beyond Expectations Barber College on Glenwood Avenue.
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