CANFIELD TOWNSHIP — Austintown residents seeking to stop a roundabout from being constructed on state Route 46 at New Road took their fight to Canfield Township on Tuesday.

Joe Asteri, an Austintown resident, addressed the trustees concerning an Ohio Department of Transportation plan for the roundabout.

“ODOT will be coming to town next year, and we are going to keep plugging away,” Asteri said. “We are at 1,000 signatures (on petitions) right now.”

He told trustees a roundabout will be a traffic nightmare and make the intersection dangerous. He said ODOT is estimating the project will cost $2.2 million, which is money better spent elsewhere.

“We would prefer entrance ramps to Route 11 from Kirk Road,” Asteri said. “We are from Austintown, and as you know we are doing a petition against (the roundabout). What most of the public is unaware of is that the petition is a two-sided petition asking ODOT to ‘not install a roundabout, and ‘allocate those funds to installing on-off ramps at state Route 11 and Kirk.'”

He said it would reduce the traffic that has to go through the Austintown business district to get to Mahoning Avenue to access state Route 11. He believes motorists would appreciate an access ramp on Kirk Road that would ease the Route 46 traffic flow.

Of the 1,000 signatures Asteri’s committee already has, he said a good portion are Canfield Township residents. Asteri has been offering the petitions at Austintown Park during the summer concerts, and many who attend are from Canfield.

Canfield Trustee Marie Cartwright asked Asteri if Austintown Township trustees were in favor of what the petition is requesting. Asteri said his committee is working with them.

He presented documents that show on Feb. 27, 1990, Austintown trustees adopted a resolution to request the construction of an exit ramp from Route 11 to Kirk Road. The letter from that date stated the reason was to relieve congestion south of Mahoning Avenue on state Route 46.

Asteri left petitions at Canfield Township Hall for residents to sign. He said they could be dropped off at the BP Station on Route 46 at Kirk Road. He said the station owner doesn’t want to see a roundabout and is serving as a collection point.

Trustee Brian Governor said he would make the petitions available at township hall. He added, “I would like to attend any meetings with ODOT next year.”

In other business:

l Trustees Cartwright, Governor and Joe Paloski accepted a MOU between the Mahoning County Engineer and Canfield Township to hire Thomas Fok and Associates Inc. to perform engineering services for the township’s 2024 paving program as presented to the Ohio Public Works Commission’s pre-application for a cost not to exceed $16,500;

l Trustees also unanimously approved Thomas Fok and Associates Inc. as the engineering firm for the Briarwood Drive rehabilitation project, providing services to include drawings, quantity estimates, bid documentation and the bidding process at a cost not to exceed $10,000;

l Trustees unanimously approved overtime not to exceed $13,044 for Public Works to perform step cleaning of the storm sewers on Pebble Beach Drive. The township will seek reimbursement from the ABC Water and Stormwater District for the labor hours, materials, equipment costs and disposal costs;

l Trustees unanimously approved the declaration of 4055 Fairway Drive and 8051 Herbert Road as nuisance properties, and thus ordered the required maintenance;

l Trustees accepted a donation of $10,000 from an anonymous donor. Governor said the money would go into a special line item to be used for future projects in the township.