COLUMBUS, Ohio – Niles will receive $1 million from the state to invest in water and sewer infrastructure to support housing development in the Stillwagon area of the city.
“There’s two parcels owned by two Niles developers,” Mayor Steven Mientkiewicz said. “One parcel is approximately 30 acres. The other parcel is approximately 80 acres, I believe.”
The parcels, east of Niles-Vienna Road, are owned by developers Jim Villecco and Jason Altobelli, who plan to build housing there. Villecco’s was annexed to the city a few years ago, and Altobelli’s is in the annexation process. In both cases, the owners sought annexation, the mayor said.
The funding comes from the second round of the Residential Economic Development District program, which is providing up to $15 million in grants this fiscal year to help communities expand housing opportunities close to major economic development projects.
“As we continue bringing new jobs and new opportunities to our great state, we need to make sure the people filling those jobs can find a home nearby,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in a news release. “These awards will help local communities support new growth, and create chances for more Ohioans to live the lives they’ve always wanted.”
DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel and Lydia Mihalik, state development director, made the announcement Friday.
The list of awardees included with the news release said Niles’ $1 million grant is to “develop public infrastructure that enables and accelerates the creation of workforce housing within the Mahoning Valley, serving households earning 80 to 120 percent AMI. This project supports housing demand created by investments by Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ultium Cells LLC and HomeGoods Inc.”
Mientkiewicz said the city sought $2 million in the last round but was unsuccessful. Its latest application sought the same amount.
“Any state grant funding is beneficial, and it’s going to be put to good use,” he said. “It’s going to help with the overall growth and stabilization of the city of Niles.”
The two properties are underserved regarding city potable water and sanitary sewer, he said.
“The city has kind of had to put a lot of pieces of the puzzle together to make that area more attractive for development,” Mientkiewicz said. “This Redd grant was just one of those pieces of the puzzle, but right now there are plans in the works and a project that’s going to be starting.”
The Stillwagon Waterline project is a partnership between Niles and Trumbull County to bring potable water from Niles’ public water system closer to those parcels. A planned sanitary sewer project by the county will also bring sanitary gravity flow closer to those parcels. The grant will help with the last leg of those projects, the mayor said.
“It’s a good opportunity for growth in the city of Niles,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to create a much needed new neighborhood within our city limits.”
And it’s the latest in a series of efforts undertaken by the city to be more developer friendly, Mientkiewicz said.
Last January, Niles implemented a citywide community reinvestment area to give a property tax break within its limits. It also reduced its water and sewer tap-in and building and zoning fees. Niles also updated its zoning code for the first time in decades.
It was part of the city’s comprehensive plan to update residential codes to keep up with zoning trends and make it more developer friendly, the mayor said.
The two developers plan about 120 homes, a mix of single family, condominiums and townhouses.
“A portion of those homes are geared towards the Redd requirements, which is workforce workforce housing that
supports a major economic development district such as Kimberly-Clark, Altium Cells, Foxconn, the Youngstown Air Reserve Base,” the mayor said. “That was part of the requirements, and it sort of aligned with our updated zoning – shrinking the footprints a little bit of those parcels, allowing for more dense population in regards to the actual neighborhood development.”
The $14 million in awards from the state, across 10 counties, are for fiscal year 2027. Last March, Warren and Youngstown received Redd awards of $851,000 and $2.5 million, respectively.
The development department received 32 eligible applications for the latest funding round, totaling nearly $69 million in requests.
Local governments located within 20 miles of a major economic development project were eligible to apply for funding to expand housing-related infrastructure, strengthen public safety and community services or provide capital to support new housing development.