BOARDMAN — The township’s business sector is healthy, according to the zoning director.

A document from the township’s zoning office shows that eight development projects have been recently completed, another seven are under construction, and Zoning Inspector T.J. Keiran said his office has just approved two new permits.

“I’m excited about the activity we have going on right now,” Keiran said. “We’re proud of being able to facilitate the processing of permits and controlling the commercial and industrial development in Boardman.”

Keiran said his office and the board of trustees have worked to ensure there is a good balance of business growth while maintaining the appeal of Boardman’s residential neighborhoods.

“From the time I was hired here (in May 2023), the first priority was to protect residents from any adverse intrusion along the commercial corridors, and we have done that,” he said.

The two newest permits are for a restaurant and a building that will feature a medical supply store focused on home care.

At 8500 Cross Roads Drive — along Western Reserve Road just east of Carmella’s Cafe and west of Interstate 680 — the township approved a $1.2-million building on 3.5 acres. Mike Fagan of Olsavsky-Jaminet Architects in Youngstown holds the permit while the property owner of record is C/Z Development, also of Youngstown.

The 14,687-square-foot multi-tenant building will be anchored by Angel Care Medical, which has a location on Karago Avenue right now. Keiran did not say if the business is expanding or relocating.

The other permit was issued to Gary O’Nesti for the First Watch restaurant that will open up next year in the former Choolah space next to Mission BBQ along U.S. 224. The 3,500-square-foot space will include a covered patio. Keiran said 2,400 of those square feet already exist in the vacant space, and the $223,000 project will add another 1,000 square feet to make room for the restaurant.

In addition to these, Keiran said the township finished most of the projects from permits issued last year and before. Those include the 50 senior living units at The Point at Walker Mill, a $9 million building on South Avenue that opened earlier this year. R&J Trucking built a $700,000, 5,500-square-foot office building in the 8000 block of Southern Boulevard; Take 5 Oil Change, a 1,650-square-foot, $800,000 autoservice building, opened on 224, across from Southern Park Mall. That building is owned by Butterfli Holdings, the same company that will own the First Watch restaurant.

In June, Youngstown State University opened its Williamson Innovation Park at 8399 Tippecanoe Road. The $850,000 STEM-focused education space provides outdoor learning space for students from kindergarten through college.

The United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley completed a $3 million, 12,000-square-foot warehouse at 8133 Market St.; Modwash built a 4,000-square-foot, $2 million car wash facility along 224 in western Boardman, and Southwoods Hospital completed a multi-million-dollar, 17,000-square-foot addition to its ambulatory surgery building at 7630 Southern Blvd.

Under construction right now, Keiran said, is the 3,184-square-foot order pick-up addition at Walmart; a $1 million entrance addition at Window World on Southern Boulevard; a 3,600-square foot showroom addition at Ken Ganley Kia on Market Street; a 2,622-square-foot office building at 4715 South Ave. for the DiLoreto Law Firm; a 7,120-square-foot senior living space with eight units along South Avenue called South Avenue Village; an $8.9 million, 22,854-square-foot surgical building expansion at Southwoods Hospital; and an $850,000, 120,000-square-foot warehouse and light manufacturing building on McClurg Road, owned by Robert Loree, who is the father of Township Administrator Jason Loree.

“There’s a lot of employment-generating development going on now, and a few more big projects are in the preliminary development phases,” Keiran said.

Several of those, he said, are along Western Reserve Road, where a major widening and infrastructure upgrade project has been underway for most of the last year.

“They want to take advantage of that big county road project, and we may have that as the next stage of our commercial development,” Keiran said.