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Youngstown Picks YNDC for Planning Contract
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. will take over citywide planning functions for Youngstown under an agreement approved Thursday by the Board of Control.
YNDC, which was launched in 2009 to promote and build on strategic investments in the city’s neighborhoods, was selected from the two finalists among the four entities that responded to the city’s request for proposals.
Youngstown has been without a planner since the departure of chief planner Anthony Kobak several years ago. Planning functions since then have been overseen by community development director Bill D’Avignon.
Terms of the agreement are not final but YNDC will be paid no more than $200,000 a year for planning services, said David Bozanich, city finance director. The agreement will be subject to annual renewal, he said.
YNDC’s bid was not only the lowest but the city has worked previously with the agency, which took over the city’s painting and housing rehabilitation programs and “did an excellent job,” Mayor Chuck Sammarone said. “They have experience and expertise with what’s happening with the city,” he remarked.
YNDC will partner with Youngstown State University for geographic information services, or GIS, planning, Bozanich said. Additionally, under the contract the city has the ability to direct “certain targeted professional services should we need them,” he said.
“Let’s say for example we want to do some riverfront planning, which is a specialty, or something along the lines of historic preservation which might be a specialty,” he explained. “Then we can direct [YNDC] to go out and hire that type of specific person under the contract to get that done.”
YBDC plans to meet with members of City Council and representatives of neighborhood watch groups to learn about the issues facing residents of the individual wards and neighborhoods, Sammarone said. “In putting a plan together, you’ve got to get what people are looking for,” he said. “Both Council and neighborhood watch groups will play an important role in putting the plan together,” he added.
Presley Gillespie, YNDC’s executive director, declined to comment Thursday pending official notification by the city.
In other business, Bozanich and the city’s law director, Anthony Farris, voted to approve a $7,720 façade grant for Dooney’s Downtown LLC, doing business as Warehouse 50. Total expected cost for the work is $19,300.
Sammarone, the Board of Control’s third member, abstained from voting. His son, attorney Chris Sammarone, is a partner in Dooney’s.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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