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WARREN -- Warren City Council will consider legislation at Wednesday's meeting to apply for financial assistance to replace the city's inclusive playground at Perkins Park and help fund more improvements to the Mahoningside area near Summit Street and Mahoning Avenue.
Fourteen pieces of legislation will be introduced at the meeting.
The playground legislation states that the current playground equipment and foundations need to be replaced "to provide a complete, safe, operational and compliant inclusive playground."
The legislation would grant Mayor Doug Franklin and Service and Safety Director Eddie Colbert authority to solicit bids and enter into contracts for the project.
The Mahoningside legislation would authorize Franklin and Colbert to to apply to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Land and Water Conservation Fund to help with "continued development" of the park, "through the construction of paved recreational paths, landscaping, benches, site amenities and related outdoor recreational improvements."
Franklin talked about upcoming upgrades to the Mahoning River and the Mahoningside area of the river near Summit Street at an Aug.18 Good Morning Warren event at the Warren City School District's Wellness Center at Warren G. Harding High School.
Franklin said the work that has been done to develop the Mahoning River in Warren and adjacent properties "will spur economic development while attracting visitors interested in experiencing the natural beauty of a free-flowing river and engaging activities, such as fishing, kayaking, hiking and cycling."
He said the area near the Summit Street Bridge where the former Mahoningside power plant used to stand was cleaned up in a $6 million project. But "Soon, thanks to grant funding, the Mahoningside area will have parking, seating, lighting and one of the easiest canoe launches anywhere in the Valley."
TREES AND SHRUBS
Also on the agenda is a proposed repeal of the city's trees and shrubs ordinances and enactment of new ones. The ordinance would repeal Chapter 915 of the city's ordinances.
One example of a proposed change is a decrease in the minimum spacing required between "street trees," which are defined as trees, shrubs, bushes and all other woody vegetation on land lying between property lines on either side of all streets, avenues or ways within the city.
Such an area is frequently called the "devil strip" or "tree lawn."
In the existing ordinance, the minimum spacing between trees is 30 feet for small trees, 40 feet for medium trees and 50 feet for large trees. The proposal reduces the minimum distances to 15, 25 and 35 feet, respectively, meaning they can be closer together than under the current ordinance.
The proposed new ordinance contains two new provisions under the category of Abuse or Mutilation of Public Trees.
One provision forbids a person from damaging, cutting, carving, topping, lion's tailing, transplanting, placing soil or mulch against the root-stem transition zone, or removing any tree; attaching any rope, wire, nails, advertising posers, or other contrivance to any tree or shrub; setting fire or permitting a fire to burn when the fire or heat thereof shall injure any portion of any tree or shrub.
Another provision prohibits a person from excavating "any ditches, tunnels, trenches, or alley or drive within a radius of 10 feet of any public tree or shrub between 0.5-10 inches diameter at breast height or 20 feet from any public tree greater than 10 inches diameter at breast height without obtaining approval from the mayor or their agent."
In a separate section of the proposed ordinance relating to Public Tree Care, the proposed ordinance states that "the city shall have the right to plant, prune, maintain and remove trees, plants and shrubs within the lines of all streets, alleys, avenues, squares and public grounds, as may be necessary to ensure public safety or to preserve or enhance the symmetry and beauty of such public grounds."
ELECTRICAL UPGRADES
Another ordinance would give Franklin and Colbert authorization to advertise for bids and enter into contracts for electrical upgrades to the Warren Municipal Justice Building at 141 South Street.
The ordinance states that the building "requires significant electrical upgrades" to assist the police department, Warren Municipal Court and City Council "in running those departments efficiently and effectively." It identifies the following types of upgrades: breaker boxes, wiring, outlets, light switches, additional lighting, electrical supply sources to the HVAC systems and interior and exterior lighting.