Trending
YOUNGSTOWN - City council will consider legislation Wednesday to obtain 13 parcels needed for a major wastewater project through eminent domain.
The residential properties are on Gibson Street, Franklin Avenue and Myrtle Avenue and range in size from 0.062 of an acre to 0.172 of an acre.
No one currently lives at the properties, said Charles Shasho, the city's deputy director of public works.
Rather than going through traditional eminent domain, which could take a year or two, the city administration wants to declare the urgency of the properties and go through a "quick take" process in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, said Chad Hawks, deputy law director. That could give the city ownership by the end of year, he said.
"That's the hope," Hawks said. "Any time you deal with courts there's a measure of uncertainty, but we're hopeful."
For several of the 13 properties, the previous owners died and did not go through probate so the city doesn't know who owns the parcels, Hawks said. In other cases, the owner cannot be found.
The properties are needed for the planned $170 million wet weather facility that the city is required to construct as part of a federal consent decree. The structures in the facility would treat up to 80 million gallons a day of excess combined sewage during heavy rainstorms and then release the water.
It is the third part of the work, costing more than $350 million when done, by the city to improve its wastewater system as mandated by the federal government.
The projects are required to be finished by 2030.
Even before it starts, the project is about 60 days behind schedule, according to the proposed legislation.
The delay is why the acquisition of the land is needed, Shasho said.
"We're not in any danger of missing any milestones," Shasho said. "But if we don't act, we'll fall behind. We're just starting the project so we don't want to delay it."
The legislation states that "an additional delay of more than three to six months would cause significant cost overruns and prevent the city from completing the project by the deadline imposed through the federal consent decree."
The city bought three parcels at 530 Gibson St. for $12,500 on July 31 and paid $7,652.50 to the tenant at 616 Gibson St. for a relocation and early vacancy agreement on Oct. 8.
The 13 parcels are needed for the first of six contracts for this work.
That initial phase is primarily for removing and relocating utility lines as well as tunneling, project staging, construction, operation and maintenance, Shasho said.
City council on Aug. 17 gave approval to the board of control to spend up to $3.5 million to pay for relocating various utility lines for the project. Shasho said that money will be paid to utility companies as needed to relocate their lines.
At that Aug. 17 meeting, council authorized the board of control to spend up to $3.77 million to demolish any buildings on the project's location on Gibson Street, in the area of Poland Avenue, as well as grading the site, removing pavement and installing security fencing.
Bids for that project will be opened Nov. 6, Shasho said.
There is one property owner who is negotiating with the city to sell that is proving to be somewhat challenging, Shasho and Hawks said.
The city's initial agreement with the federal government in 2014 called for the construction of a 100-million-gallon-per-day wet weather facility. But the rising cost of the work and the disputed need for such a large system were why the city argued in a March 15, 2024, federal court motion to reopen the consent decree that requires it to make significant and expensive improvements to its wastewater system.
During lengthy negotiations between the city and the federal government, an agreement was reached to honor the city's request for the smaller facility. Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the U.S. District Court's Northern District of Ohio finalized the deal Oct. 9, 2025.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency had originally ordered the city in 2002 to do $310 million worth of work, but it was negotiated down to $160 million in 2014 with the expectation it would be finished in 20 years. But all of the work will end up costing more than $350 million.
The city plans to have all of the work done by Oct. 1, 2035.
As part of the federal consent decree, the city hired Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. of Youngstown for $42.8 million for the first two phases of a four-part project to keep water from flowing into Mill Creek Park's Lake Glacier and Lake Cohasset.
The first two phases, which started in December, are to Lake Glacier, eliminating four of the 14 overflow lines. The project is replacing about 8,000 to 9,000 linear feet of sewer lines that range in size from 36 inches to 60 inches with a new 96-inch sewer line, as well as bridge work, river crossings, efforts to lower the lake and the relocation of utilities.
The project is supposed to be finished no later than May 29, 2028.
The city plans a compressed schedule with the rest of the interceptor sewer work at the park with the third phase done by April 18, 2031, and the final part by Sept. 29, 2032.
That project was estimated to cost $47.7 million and will now cost more than $72 million, according to a court filing from the city. It will eliminate 10 sewage overflow lines to Lake Cohasset.
The city finished the first part of the sewer improvement work - upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant - on June 30, 2021, about a year later than required by the federal government.
The initial construction estimate was $37.3 million, but the city said it cost $70 million.