YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Plans to upgrade the Belmont Avenue corridor in Youngstown and Liberty Township would advance under an ordinance City Council is expected to take up Wednesday.
Council members will consider entering into a $140,000 agreement with MS Consultants Inc., Youngstown, to provide consultation and engineering services for the Belmont Corridor Plan. Members also will discuss the Belmont Avenue corridor during a meeting of City Council’s community planning and economic development committee Tuesday afternoon.
Youngstown was awarded a $200,000 technical assistance grant from the Ohio Appalachian Regional Commission on March 23 for the Mahoning Valley Commercial Corridors initiative.
The initiative is a collaborative effort involving eight communities in Mahoning and Trumbull counties “to upgrade the visual appearance and economic vitality of commercial districts and arterial roadways” leading into downtown Youngstown, according to an ordinance approved by City Council accepting the grant.
The objective is to develop concepts for “what can be done to improve Belmont Avenue,” Liberty Township Trustee Arnie Clebone said.
The grant requires two or more counties to be involved, said Clebone and Stephanie Gilchrist, the city’s director of community planning and economic development.
Youngstown officials selected Belmont Avenue as the focus for the grant because the Building a Better Belmont initiative was already active, the U.S. Veterans Administration had opened a new clinic on Belmont Avenue in recent years and Mercy Health – Youngstown was moving forward with new facilities on the corridor, Gilchrist said.
“We felt this would be a great time to collaborate and work with those private partners and to make something happen on Belmont,” she said.
Under the agreement, MS Consultants will look at Belmont from downtown Youngstown north to Giant Eagle, Clebone said.
MS Consultants will look at what has already been done on the corridor and engage with community partners and stakeholders. “They’ll be looking at things, from transportation to land use, zoning, housing streetscaping, wayfinding, signs – even looking at the businesses on the corridor and the storefronts,” Gilchrist said.
Liberty is already preparing to go out for bid for sidewalks on Belmont from Liberty Street to state Route 304 and from Route 304 to Giant Eagle, Clebone said. There also are plans to install a crosswalk with a stoplight near the Dunkin Donuts and Churchill Park, along with other safety improvements.
The study is slated to take 10 months, Gilchrist said. During that time, the city and township will pursue grants and other funding to implement the recommended improvements.
“The goal is for this plan to leave us with action steps and a plan to begin the work,” she said.