YOUNGSTOWN — City council still wants more information about a request to spend up to $1.95 million on sanitary sewer improvements to a site in the Salt Springs Road Business Park before committing to it.

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, said Wednesday he supports the improvements, but wants administration officials to “package” the information “so we’re able to show the potential of that site. It’s in a great industrial park, but really putting together a pro forma on the” revenue that would be created by developing the location.

Top Property Holdings LLC of North Lima is interested in developing the 12.1-acre site on Exal Court, but hasn’t provided details except the concept is to develop up to 200,000-square-feet at the location, according to what DeMaine Kitchen, the city’s community planning and economic development department director, said at a May 13 council committee meeting.

At that same meeting, Finance Director Kyle Miasek said with possible companies going into the location, the cost of installing a sanitary sewer pump station could be recouped in about six years from water and wastewater fees and income tax revenue.

Council first heard the request at an April 15 meeting and referred it to committee for further discussion. Council members were vocally skeptical about spending the money without a project at the location.

Council next meets June 3 for a potential vote on the request.

Also Wednesday, council voted 7-0 on ordinances to move ahead with a project, costing up to $6,125,000, to remove three low-head dams in the Mahoning River to improve water quality and clean contaminated sediment behind them.

The ordinances permit the board of control to enter into agreements for the work with companies at a cost of up to $6,125,000, spend up to $200,000 to acquire parcels and easements for the work, and enter into an agreement with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to obtain $3.5 million from the Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program to help fund the project.

The rest of the funding for the work will come from a state fund that uses LTV Steel settlement money to clean up the river, said Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works.

“There’s a lot of pollutants, toxic chemicals and other contaminants behind the dam,” Shasho said. “It’s a water quality issue.”

The dams are located by Crescent Center and Marshall streets, Shasho said.

The city has received proposals for the work, which is a “design-build” project, meaning an engineer and contractor are hired as a team with the contractor starting the work shortly after the engineer has designed a certain amount of the project and continues to do the work as more of it is engineered, Shasho said.

The city will award the contract in about a month with the design work starting shortly after that, Shasho said.

The project is expected to end in 2028, Shasho said.

The removal of the three dams is part of a major, multi-year effort to remove nine low-head dams in the Mahoning River between Leavittsburg and Lowellville.

Four of the dams have been removed with the most controversial one being in Leavittburg. Its demolition started in late October after six years of unsuccessful legal challenges by Warren Township.

Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to let the board of control finalize a $47,500 settlement agreement as a result of a Sept. 20, 2024, crash in which Detective Sgt. Edward Kenney’s police cruiser hit a vehicle from behind during a pursuit on Hughes Street on the city’s South Side.

The agreement will pay $40,000 to Ashley Lintz of Youngstown, who sustained injuries in the crash, and $7,500 to Kendal Lee Dotson of Youngstown, whose 2011 Honda Acura was totaled.

An accident report states an 8-year-old girl in the car driven by Lintz was also injured while Kenney wasn’t hurt.

The report states Lintz stopped on the road to yield to an emergency vehicle when she was hit from behind by a 2022 Ford Explorer city police cruiser driven by Kenney. The cruiser received extensive damage in the crash.

Kenney said he was looking for street markers during a pursuit when he looked into the sun and didn’t see Lintz had stopped and hit the vehicle, according to the police report.

Lintz and Dotson didn’t file a lawsuit against the city, but did retain an attorney, who worked out a settlement agreement with the city.