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City Would Expand Green Space, Reduce Commercial Zones"
By George NelsonYOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A comprehensive plan for the city calls for building on existing and emerging assets such as its industrial spaces, strong neighborhoods and a redeveloped central core as well as replacing widespread blight with green space. Architects of the Youngstown 2010 plan previewed elements of the strategy for reporters Thursday morning in advance of last night's community presentation in Stambaugh Auditorium. "This is a critical first step. It represents an enormous amount of work by an enormous number of people that I think will pay real dividends over time," said Hunter Morrison, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at Youngstown State University. "If it's adopted, if it's kept up to date, if it's taken seriously, it becomes the framework for judging what we do and what we don't do, for how we promote and push for projects that will bring money and will pay for elements of what we have here."When in the early 1950s the city prepared its last comprehensive plan -- designed for the needs of a population of 200,000 -- 35% of Mahoning Valley residents were employed in the steel industry and 68% of Mahoning County's population lived in the city, said Bill D'Avignon, Youngstown deputy planning director.Although technical appendices were addedin 1974, "We really are still operating on a land use plan done in 1951 and a zoning ordinance that was done in the '60s," he said.The city has any number of asserts on which it can build, Morrison said. While Youngstown's proximity to the Cleveland and Pittsburgh markets has often been cited, he noted that the "wealth corridors" of those communities are moving toward Youngstown. "It's 45 minutes from Hudson to Youngstown. It's easier to get to Powers Auditorium [in Youngstown] than it is to Playhouse Square [in Cleveland]," he remarked. "Can Youngstown market Youngstown to the east side of the Cleveland market?" He also recalled a conversation with a Cleveland group buying excess fiber optic capacity in northeast Ohio. "I said, 'You've got to come to Youngstown,' and they said, 'Yes, we do. We have to come to Youngstown because we have to get to Pittsburgh and you're on the fiber trunk lines.' So if you begin to see us in the middle of a community that is moving toward us, then it is a different point of view than it's just that you're halfway between," he remarked. In addition, the proximity to airports in Akron, Canton and Pittsburgh lets fliers "price shop and schedule shop" extremely well. Morrison also said the community can build on the waterways in the region. He noted that these rivers in many communities are the frameworks for rethinking around a package of amenities that work within the community but also connect that community to other areas. In addition, the components are in place for a "green network" along these river corridors, including abandoned industrial sites. The Youngstown 2010 plan, detailed by Morrison,incorporates four land use themes: 1) Green Network -- One of the overarching themes of the plan is repositioning Youngstown "as a green city, not a gray city," Morrison said. It is not the heavy industry city it once was. It will still have industrial jobs, as will the Mahoning Valley, but the driver has got to be something that speaks to the 21st century and one of the key themes of the 21st century is green --green in terms of environment, green in terms of amenities, green in terms of connectivity, green in terms of pulling the pieces together and providing a land use frame work within which to build other uses." 2) Competitive Industrial Districts -- Youngstown is well along in this, Morrison said, with its successful program of redeveloping brownfield sites for new industry. This city has been more successful at brownfield remediation and converting old steel mills and turning them around and putting contemporary industrial uses on them than any city I know. For a city of its scale it has done a remarkable job," he said, also recommending that the city build further on that. The city also can creatively use its green space and wetlands to encourage business growth and development. "We've talked about expanding the city's tax base, which is an absolute priority, but no longer simply at the expense of the environment," said Jay Williams, Youngstown Community Development Agency director. 3) Viable Neighborhoods --Morrison disputed the notion that the city's neighborhoods are falling apart and being abandoned. "There are parts of each side of town where the neighborhoods are holding together, where there has not been large scale abandonment," he said. "They become in many ways the anchors to deal with the softer parts of town." While he saw no reason Youngstown neighborhoods can't compete as places for people to live in northeast Ohio, he also urgedthe city to look at housing types and housing demands based on a mix of older properties it has and newer structures in places such as Smoky Hollow. "You can live here, as many people do, and you can work within 45 minutes or an hour of Youngstown in a large number of employment opportunities," he said. 4) Vibrant Core -- Including the downtown, YSU, Smoky Hollow, Arlington Heights, Mahoning Commons and "a portion of the South Side that has phenomenal views of downtown," it has qualities of a place pedestrians can easily move about that also is accessible because of the freeway network, Morrison said. This component also builds on the momentum of the convocation center under construction and expansion Powers Auditorium "to create a place that people want to come to, a place that is the center of life in the Mahoning Valley," he said. "it's got to retain what's supportable that is unique. You're not going to compete with the malls but you can compete as a place that has the specialty stuff."The plan also proposes rezoning areas of the city to create less of a "crazy quilt" of land uses, In particular, commercial zones would be reduced and concentrated along key corridors such as Market Street and Belmont and Mahoning avenues. Williams outlined a number of initiatives in which the city already is progressing in conjunction with the guidelines of the plan, which will go to the city planning commission in March or April and then to City Council for consideration. The downtown Streetscape program has been expanded as Youngstown CityScape, a program focusing on cleaning up the city's major thoroughfares. In addition, the city is addressing demolition of blighted vacant commercial and residential properties, and exploring how to establish a housing court modeled after Cleveland's. The plan also calls for an improved full-time land bank program. Under an agreement with the Youngstown City Schools, abandoned buildings will be torn down and replaced with green spaces. Williams also said the city is working on developing hike-and-bike paths that connect to those in surrounding communities, and he emphasized the importance of city support for the proposed Mahoning River restoration project as well as other community improvement projects and programs. "It is not acceptable to simply abandon the river as a tool that was used to build the city but can no longer have a role in its revitalization," he said. The city also has successfully pursued federal legislation allowing it to expand the Renewal Community District awarded in 2001. In addition, Williams said one of the hallmarks of the 2010 plan is partnerships, noting that it will incorporate the plans of other entities, including the downtown district plan and, Wick Neighbors and YSU's centennial plan. The city also plans to work with neighboring communities, including the recently announced Meridian Road task force with AustintownB. Draftingthe city's first comprehensive plan in half a century is an important milestone -- not a quick fix -- for the problems facing the city, architects of the plan cautioned. People looking for "short-term miracles" will be disappointed, Williams observed, "But we believe that those who are here for the long haul, their faith and their commitment in this process will be rewarded. "We've come to find out that successful communities are not wished into existence through hopes and dreams," he continued. "Successful communities have lots of ingredients but I think in any successful community you will find two key things: the people and a plan. Youngstown 2010 is that plan for this community and the people who have engaged themselves and who believe in this are the people who are going to help implement that, so we are convinced that in the long term that the plan and people, if we're committed to it, will result in this city prevailing over some of the things that we've been facing time and time again." Contact George Nelson at [email protected]"