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Lowellville awaits word on a major river restoration project grant
Each year the Lowellville Business Association sponsors Cruisin’ The River Car & Bike Nite, which takes place Mondays from May to October. Mayor James Iudiciani said it draws crowds, helping local restaurants and taverns. It also allows the association to raise money to fund scholarships for high school students planning to go to college. This year it begins on May 13.
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: May 16, 2013
Once part of Mahoning County’s thriving steel industry, the village of Lowellville is now the site of a proposed river restoration project that has the potential to breathe new life into the community’s economy.
In February, Ohio Sen. Joe Schiavoni announced that Lowellville had tentatively been awarded $2.4 million from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to help remove the First Street Dam. The agency is awarding four grants totaling $10 million under its Water Resource Restoration Sponsor Program. While officials don’t expect to know if the grant will be approved until fall, the proposal has generated a tremendous amount of excitement and support from officials in Struthers, Campbell and the village, who have joined forces to restore the Mahoning River.
“If we can remove the dam and clean up the river, we can attract tourists who want to fish, canoe and kayak,” said longtime Mayor James Iudiciani. The mayor said if all five dams were removed from Youngstown to Lowellville it would generates millions in revenue as restaurants, canoe liveries and other businesses spring up along the water.
Iudiciani said officials from Struthers and Campbell believe Lowellville is a good place to start because of its small size and downstream location.
“This project is huge since it has the potential to positively impact the entire Mahoning Valley,” said Iudiciani.
“We are only about a half mile from the Pennsylvania line, and if we could cleanup the river and remove the dams it would create continuous obstruction-free water flow, and we could attract sports enthusiasts from Pennsylvania,” said Lowellville Administrator William Meehan.
The dams are a remnant from the steel mills and other industrial facilities that once lined sections of the Mahoning River. They were built to accumulate large pools of water that were pumped into the mills to cool equipment used during the steel-making process. However, the water was released back into the river without being treated, creating pollution problems.
Meehan said Sharon Steel Corporation closed its Mary Furnace plant in 1960. The property was auctioned off and sold and today the site is occupied by Gennaro Pavers.
He said the loss of the plant left many residents without jobs. Years later, when a large portion of Youngstown Sheet and Tube closed in 1977, the village felt the impact again since many people were working in the Youngstown facility at the time.
The largest employer in the village now is Falcon Foundry Company, followed by the Lowellville Local School District, which built a brand new K through 12 campus on Rocket Place that opened in January 2003.
Other businesses include The Conti Corporation, which specializes in heating and plumbing services for commercial, industrial and institutional projects, Aluminum Color Industries, Garland Welding, Encore Antique Reproduction Furniture, The Air Compressor Company and Morrone Mechanical Inc.
The mayor said the most recent company to open is Welding Techniques.
In addition to the dam-removal project, Iudiciani said the oil and gas boom is generating a lot of activity, creating business prospects and leasing opportunities for residents.
“The Utica shale is like the old ‘Gold Rush,” said Iudiciani. “We do not have any drilling yet, but people are selling their mineral rights for $4,000 to $5,000 an acre with 20 percent royalty agreements.
“I work for State Line Paving and we are busy paving the roads to and from the drilling sites all over the county. I am talking with four or five companies that are looking to move to the village as a result of fracking.”
The mayor said officials are continuing to improve the infrastructure, with streets being repaved and widened. He said the village is paying for some of the work but other projects are being financed by Community Development Block Grants.
For example, the village is using a $50,000 grant to complete the construction of curbs and curb ramps on all of West and East Wood Street. In addition, the Ohio Department of Transportation Safe Routes to School $442,000 sidewalk improvement plan is expected to go out for bid shortly, with the goal of making the roads within two miles of the school campus safer for biking and walking to enable students to be more physically active when commuting to and from school.
The village was incorporated in 1890, and celebrated its 100th anniversary on July 8, 1990.
“In the late 1800s, a lot of Europeans settled here to work in the steel mills and railroads,” said Iudiciani. “In the 1900s, a lot Italians arrived, some worked in the limestone quarries and others worked in the steel mills.”
Today the largely Italian-American village has a population around 1,155, and there are about 530 homes.
While it has changed greatly over the years, officials said it has not lost it’s the small-town friendly atmosphere.
Everyone still pretty much knows one another,” said Meehan, who was born and raised in Lowellville. “We have a lot of community events like our Memorial Day parade, Lowellville Day (summer festival) and senior citizen luncheons.
“We still have three railroad lines going through town like they did years ago and a lot of people come down here to watch trains.”
There is also an extensive summer recreation program available to children between the ages of 5 and 16, which operates Monday to Friday for seven weeks and features activities ranging from arts and crafts and miniature golf to field trips.
The Stavich Bike Trail, which begins in Pennsylvania and runs along the Mahoning River into Struthers and Lowellville, is used for a variety of outdoor recreation.
“We have a weekly car show (Cruisin’ The River Car & Bike Nite) every Monday from May to October, which draws crowds, and helps our restaurants and taverns,” said Iudiciani. This year it began May 13.
A few of the more popular restaurants are Carchedi’s, Gianna’s Catering, Riverview Lounge and Melillo Tavern.
Meehan said the Mt. Carmel Society also has a bar and puts on the Mt. Carmel Society Festival in July that is very popular, drawing people from other adjacent communities.
In 2010, the village increased its income tax rate from 1.5 to 2 percent to help plug the budget gap and fund some of the road improvement projects. However, there were no service cuts or layoffs.
“The increase in income tax helped us stay in the ball game,” said Meehan.
There were a few foreclosures and the village received Moving Ohio Forward demolition money, which was used to demolish several houses.
“Overall we are in a good position for a little town,” said Iudiciani. “About 10 years ago we reestablished the Lowellville Business Association.”
Among other things, the association sponsors the car show as well as an annual golf outing, raising funds to provide scholarship money to high school students planning to go to college as a way to promote future business development in the village.
“Hopefully the activity from the oil and gas drilling will help us to get some of our mom-and-pop businesses back,” said Meehan. “We lost a number of them over the years. I would also like to see another grocery store open up. At one time we had four or five, now people have to drive out of town to do their grocery shopping.”