Morning Journal/Danielle Garner Mayor Kevin Siembida stands on the bridge at Leetonia Beehive Coke Ovens Park with Youngstown State University Professor and Chair of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Alan Tomhave and Department of Geography Associate Professor Dawna Cerney, Ph.D.

LEETONIA — Mayor Kevin Siembida and Councilwoman Ashley Johnson recently met with Youngstown State University faculty to discuss the preliminary stages of a partnership promoting the Leetonia Beehive Coke Ovens Park.

Siembida gauged the interest of YSU faculty using the Leetonia Beehive Coke Ovens Park as a regional on-site educational resource. He said he would like to invest in the community by using grant money to build a center and conservatory to facilitate interactive classroom and in-person learning.

“I could bring students in here. I could bring people in here doing that to get them all together learning. It is a cycle and it will also facilitate the history of these older towns and mine towns,” he said.

Leetonia Coke Oven Park has the potential to promote redevelopment of the downtown community and provide opportunities for students in several departments.

“One huge aspect of the community is the coke ovens and we want to incorporate that into the downtown and cause a draw into the community,” Siembida said. “There’s no better way to do that than to try and get the university and higher education involved.”

Siembida said he plans on using funds available through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reserved for the rehabilitation of clear-cut mined areas. Clear-cut areas are defined as typically 20 acres where all trees have been removed.

“We have one of those areas right almost in our downtown,” Siembida said.

The targeted budget for the project is between $3.5 and $4 million. ODNR could potentially provide an estimated $3 million while state funding could expand funds when an investment is made in higher education facilities.

During the next several months Siembida will uncover specific grant amounts and work with village council and administrators to comply with criteria. According to Siembida, the criteria the village received for ODNR already looks promising.

Siembida said he considers the community fortunate within the last several years due to an increase in economic output. General funds increased from an estimated $500,000 yearly to breaking a million dollars.

“We’ve seen huge growth through our businesses,” he said. “I would like to continue on that and go from there.”

Siembida attributed the village’s growth to tax abatements and commerce retention efforts. He said the income from businesses is sustainable.

Dawn Cerney, Ph.D., Department of Geography associate professor at YSU, however, examined the vulnerability to global factors of the economic ecosystem in village.

“Losing any one or all of those [manufacturing facilities] could just flip everything in a minute,” she said.

Cerney said she believes exploring the geoheritage of the coke ovens will help utilize historic and educational tourism to benefit the village’s economy by diversifying businesses.

“In order for a community to be resilient, what you need is a whole bunch of little things. So, if you have 10 percent, you still have 90 percent functioning,” she explained.

Alan Tomhave, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences professor and chair, is interested in having students complete on-site digs and merging historical and geographical data.

“I think it fits nicely with the vision that we have and with what we want our students to be doing in the community,” he said.

According to Tomhave, the collaboration YSU has with surrounding communities supports the university’s regional connection.

While Tomhave cannot commit Youngstown State University to anything himself, he said he looks forward to moving discussions forward with the provost and dean of colleges.

“This is an authentic site that needs to be documented archeologically and historically,” Cerney added.

Amy Fluker, associate professor of History, explained the university already has several resources available because the it previously developed and interpreted some of the history associated with the Leetonia Beehive Coke Ovens Park.

Fluker said she looks forward to having students continue researching and developing interpretation of the coke ovens site.

“I think the students and our faculty in our department are perfectly set up to actually help contribute to that,” Tomhave said.