Board likely to award contract for Federal St. work

Published:Friday, March 28, 2008

By David Skolnick

Most of the main downtown street’s medians and trees will remain.

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control is expected to approve a $474,684 contract today to improve a section of West Federal Street and increase parking on and around it.

The Federal Street project between Fifth Avenue and Phelps Street attracted controversy last summer just as the city was about to seek a company to handle the job.

The plan called for the removal of the medians with 22 trees on that stretch of one of downtown’s busiest streets. The trees in the median were to be removed and replaced with 24 smaller ones on the sidewalk and on portions of the street near parking spots.

The original plan called for 42 parallel parking spots to be replaced with 66 diagonal places.

Also, the project called for the street to be repaved, have improvements made to catch basins and storm sewers, and to replace electrical work under the medians.

Numerous people spoke in opposition to the plan, specifically the removal of the medians and those trees.

The objections led to an overhaul of the project.

The city is retaining 75 percent of the medians, said Charles Shasho, its deputy director of public works.

Also, 13 of the 22 trees in the medians are remaining, he said.

The project includes $25,000 for landscaping. The city plans to work with CityScape, which coordinates the Streetscape beautification program, to determine the types and locations of additional trees, Shasho said.

Changes were also made to the original parking plan.

The revised project includes 22 diagonal spots, 30 parallel spots and 11 handicapped spots on West Federal Street between Fifth and Phelps, Shasho said.

The city will also add 16 diagonal spaces on the west side of Symphony Place, formerly Chestnut Street, between West Federal and Commerce streets; and seven diagonal spots on the east side of Vindicator Square, south of West Federal Street.

Motorists can park there legally, but the area isn’t properly striped, Shasho said.

The project’s electrical work is being scaled back, he said.

The estimated cost of the project was $695,000.

Shasho is recommending today that the board of control hire Parella-Pannunzio, an Austintown company, for the work. The company submitted a proposal for $474,684, the least expensive among the three businesses seeking the job.

About 70 percent of the funding for the project comes from a state grant.

The work is expected to begin in 30 days and is to be finished within 120 days after it starts.

skolnick@vindy.com