YOUNGSTOWN — The Board of Education on Tuesday heard from Pantheon Innovative Builders, a 3D Printed Construction and Development firm, about plans to build affordable housing units on two plots of land owned by the board.

Steve Davis, a representative of PIB, was there to outline the tentative plans, which utilize two development sites. The west site would be located near the former West Elementary, 2400 S. Schenley Ave. The east site would be in the area of Hayes Middle School at 1616 Ford Ave. on the North Side.

Davis said they would use the spaces as anchors to bring in affordable housing developments and keep them at median income. Pending an evaluation, the proposed east site will repurpose the old Hayes Middle School into a housing unit.

The west site, which is adjacent to St. Brendan Catholic Church and Summit Academy, would house a large facility that could be senior housing and the project also could include single-family homes. A portion of the land also would house a park, Davis said.

To facilitate the project quickly, Davis said they intend to purchase the sites through the Western Reserve Port Authority.

Board of Education member Joe Meranto expressed excitement for the project, saying it could be “putting something back into Youngstown” rather than taking something out. He believes the proposal could yield more enrollment opportunities for Youngstown schools.

Board President Tiffany Patterson posed the question of whether the project would get a tax break through an abatement agreement. Davis said the idea would be to have the project benefit the school district.

He said one way of doing this is by purchasing the property rather than having it donated, noting it would be a payment in lieu of taxes.

“So on top of the purchase price for the property, we would actually pay a set amount that would be in lieu of taxes over the course of a year,” Davis said.

The company plans to host community meetings on the proposal. Superintendent Justin Jennings said the plan will be discussed further at the board’s next committee meeting.

In other business, the board:

l Heard from Erik Teutsch, president of the Youngstown Education Association, who asked why three adult education instructors from the nursing program at Choffin Career and Technical Center were sent an email notifying them of a reduction in force. According to the email, action on the matter would be taken up at a board meeting in April. Teutsch said the notice was due to “unspecified ” financial reasons;

l Heard from Kathleen O’Connell Sauline, a librarian at Chaney High School, who announced plans for Kent State University’s School of Journalism to begin a mentoring program for journalism at Chaney High School.

cmcbride@tribtoday.com