YSU Condemnation
WYTV, January 29, 2008
Neither side has been willing to budge when it comes to the area around Hazel Street and YSU, and that's why the courts are now getting involved.
Last Friday, the city filed a petition against Joseph Grenga, the owner of Grenga Machine and Welding Company on Rayen Avenue. The city wants to demolish that property to extend Hazel Street from downtown to the YSU campus. They've offered to buy the property from Mr. Grenga before, but his response is still clearly plastered on the walls of his business.
So, city leaders say they're following the path laid out by the law to try and force Grenga's hand. "Anytime you have development, not everyone is going to be in agreement with that development. But at the end of the day, I think this project is going to be a significant boost to many many people and many, many businesses in cleaning up that corridor", explains Mayor Jay Williams.
Along with the petition, the City put two hundred and five thousand dollars it offered to Grenga into an escrow account, and attached a city council resolution and ordinance in support of the acquisition.
-It is always hard to stop a road take, bordering on the impossible, because roads are public uses. Only in the very rarest of factual situations can one stop the taking of their property for a road.
