On Monday, the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership (TNP) hosted a public meeting to discuss the next steps for the former St. Joe's site.

TNP in conjunction with the Trumbull County Land Bank and Warren, received funding through the Ohio Department of Development in 2022 to demolish the vacant hospital that sat on 52 acres on Tod Avenue. Demolition and environmental clean-up began last December and crews are in the process of seeding and grading the property following the completed demolition last week.  

TNP received a $20,000 grant through the AARP's Community Challenge to turn the space into a usable greenspace in 2023.

During the meeting, TNP offered three green space layouts on which the community can give their opinions, including benches, landscaping, trees, walkways, and community activities. 

Residents are encouraged to attend and share their input on the greenspace layout. "We're hoping they'll end up going with an option that involves the community and has picnic benches, tables, and a walking path," said Lydia Lynch, Food Access Coordinator with Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership. 

"It not only helps us to mitigate any potential blight at the site, but it gets community involvement, and as one of our residents says, helps us to take ownership of the site, that pride in the site and develop it for future uses," said Councilman Todd Johnson, 2nd Ward Councilman with the City of Warren. 

The group showed several outlines of what the greenspace could look like in the future to the crowd on Monday. Lynch stressed these are just ideas and not the final versions of the layout.

People living nearby are concerned about parking and upkeep of the park but appreciate the property turning into something.

"I commend the city for doing all they can for doing all they can to try and keep our parks maintained," Johnson added. "Working with our local city government to increase fines and catch those offenders so we can continue to make warren more and more beautiful than what is was before."

A citywide parcel inventory project was also discussed with a heavy focus Northwest side of Warren.