Work on a $27 million power line project in Youngstown and Campbell will begin in November 2027 after the Ohio Power Siting Board gave permission to a FirstEnergy subsidiary for it.

The board voted 6-0 Thursday during a meeting that lasted less than five minutes and included approval for three other projects elsewhere in the state.

The board in May 2022 rejected the initial proposal from American Transmission Systems Inc. after more than 300 Mahoning Valley residents and elected officials opposed it because of high-tension lines going through the heart of downtown Youngs-town, including Wean Park and behind the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and Covelli Centre.

After that project was rejected, ATSI updated the project, which received the siting board’s approval.

This revised 6.25-mile, 138-kilovolt project would connect the Riverbend and Lincoln Park substations, going through sections of Youngstown and Campbell, and expand the Riverbend substation, near downtown Youngstown, to install new equipment.

The project would serve as a backup power source for the Riverbend substation, which serves 5,000 customers, and the Lincoln Park substation, which serves 10,000 customers, said Lauren Siburkis, FirstEnergy’s program manager of transmission communications.

Construction will start in November 2027 and be in service by December 2028.

The project includes about 100 steel poles. The poles will be about 70 to 85 feet tall with a few about 100 feet tall where needed, such as on either side of the Peace Officers Memorial Bridge on South Avenue that crosses the Mahoning River, Siburkis said.

The steel poles would be installed along Youngstown roads, including Poland Avenue and Center Street, to the city’s East Side before ending at the Lincoln Park substation in Campbell.

Lincoln and Wean parks are located within the vicinity of the project area, but are not crossed by the power lines, according to a Dec. 3 siting board staff report.

The project will provide “stronger support for important places like St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown State University, the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and hundreds of homes and businesses,” Siburkis recently said.

During construction, the project will create 23 temporary jobs in 2027 and 56 temporary jobs in 2028, she said.

Once the project is finished, Siburkis said the project is expected to generate about $4.1 million in local taxes in the first year.

The Ohio Power Siting Board staff on Dec. 3 recommended the board approve the project – as it did when the board rejected the initial project in 2022.

During a Dec. 8 public meeting in Youngstown, five people spoke about the project.

One opposed it because the line is to go across the front of his property, two others didn’t want the line going through the parking lot of their church on the city’s East Side, another was concerned about the impact the lines would have on nature and said the project wasn’t necessary while a fifth person wanted to look at the project’s map.

ATSI held public meetings in Youngstown on June 12, 2024, and June 4, 2025, to answer questions about the project with interested parties and submitted a formal application with the siting board on Aug. 25, 2025. The board issued a letter of compliance on Oct. 10 regarding the application.