This architectural drawing shows signage planned for the Boys and Girls Club of Youngstown. The agency has received a $20,000 forgivable loan through Youngstown's facade program to help pay for improvements. (Submitted image)

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s design review committee approved exterior improvements to three organizations that allow them to get grants from Youngstown’s facade program for their renovation projects.

The $20,000 grants were approved for the Boys and Girls Club of Youngstown for its facility at 2105 Oak Hill Ave.; the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation for property in the 2300 block of Glenwood Avenue; and to Congregation Ohev Beth Shalom at 1119 Elm St.

The committee also sent back a project application for more work and rejected metal signs for Youngstown Rentals at its property around Wick Park.

As a condition of getting the grants, the organizations have to receive permission from the committee for projects. For the facade grants, companies have to show they are paying at least half of the cost of the work being done.

The facade grants are forgivable loans with a five-year term. Every year a business remains open at its location, 20 percent of the loan is forgiven until it reaches 100 percent at five years.

Details of the approved facade program grants are:

* Boys and Girls Club asked for city funds to help it with two exterior signs, new asphalt for the sidewalk and parking lot and the renovation of its exterior building. The project costs more than $182,000, with the group seeking a loan to defray some of those costs.

* YNDC sought funds to help with excavating and replacing a 10,000-square-foot asphalt parking lot. The project costs $40,000.

* Congregation Ohev Beth Shalom wanted funds to help replace the main steps to its Elm Street worship site. The project also was to include removing all landscaping and to add new topsoil and plants around the building. The exterior signage was not included in the funding request, and the project’s total cost is estimated at $145,000.

According to the committee’s consultant, Hunter Morrison, the request made by Common Wealth Inc. to build four additional rowhouses in the 100 block of Baldwin between Elm and Bryson streets was sent back to the designers for more work. Common Wealth also was proposing to build a 16-foot-by-20-foot ice cream stand at the site, Morrison said.

The final proposal made to the committee Tuesday involved Youngstown Rentals seeking approval for exterior signage on five of its buildings that line Wick Park in the city’s historical district. The plan had called for each metal sign to be 8 feet by 5 feet and hang each structure.

The committee voted to reject Youngstown Rentals’ proposal on condition that the company comes back with a new plan that includes freestanding signs that give contact information about the rental properties.