Trending
AUSTINTOWN -- A Michigan-based supercenter chain is expected to move forward with its plans to open a store at the site of the former Fitch High School and Austintown Middle School by spring 2021.
The Austintown Township Board of Appeals has given Meijer the OK to build a new store at the former school complex at 5800 Mahoning Avenue near Austintown Plaza.
Meijer has purchasing agreements with the Austintown Board of Education and with OLOM Limited, which owns the property that also used to house a branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
The company has plans to complete its acquisition of the property by the end of this year or in the first quarter of 2017. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in 2020 after designs are finalized and the necessary site development permits are secured.
Tribune Chronicle attempts to reach Meijer leaders for comment were unsuccessful.
In February, the school board announced it had approved an agreement to sell the former high school to the Meijer chain for $2.6 million. Previously, the district tried selling the property to two other purchasers, but the plans fell through.
Darren Crivelli, township zoning inspector, said that because of the size of the proposed building, the retailer needed approval from the township appeals board for a conditional use permit. The building is projected to be 195,000 square feet.
Crivelli said the company must secure zoning and building permits before starting construction, and secure a permit from the Mahoning County Engineer's Office to perform work within the Mahoning Avenue right-of-way. Among several stipulations set by the appeals board, the company is required to construct a buffer on the Howard Avenue side of the site and submit a photometric site plan that meets the township's approval.
The Austintown Township Zoning Commission and the Mahoning County Planning Commission previously approved two amendments to rezone portions of the property from residential to business, and also a proposal for a landscape buffer to divide the proposed parking lot from nearby residences.
Meijer, which has stores in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin, is the 26th-largest retailer in the United States and was founded in 1934, according to its website.
business@tribtoday.com