STEUBENVILLE — City Council members said Tuesday their hands are tied with regard to the conditional use permits Steubenville’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved for WODA Cooper Cos.’ two proposed housing developments on Sunset Boulevard.

But, while they couldn’t overturn the zoning decision, Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover, Fifth Ward Councilman Ted Gorman, Sixth Ward Councilman Mike Hernon and Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon, along with Councilman at large Joel Walker vowed to revisit the ordinance and make necessary changes that would give them the final say.

“There are a few outdated ordinances that need addressed,” Gorman said.

Those same five council members also defeated a motion that would have authorized City Clerk Karly Haley to draft a letter of support on behalf of council-as-a-whole that the company could submit to the state when they turn in their application for grant dollars to help pay for the proposed construction.

The vote was 5-2, with First Ward Councilmen Dave Albaugh and Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo in favor of submitting letters on behalf of all council members. The two of them can still submit letters of support, but those letters will only have their signatures.

“I, for one, support it,” Mayo said prior to the vote. “…They’re willing to spend $51 million in our city to create hundreds of units of housing — to me it’s a no-brainer.”

Albaugh agreed, saying, “Do I think it’s the greatest thing going? No, but I think it’s a start, so for that I will support (it).”

“I think that as a city we have an affordable housing shortage and I don’t see anyone knocking down our door to come here and develop in our community. I think if they do what they said they are going to do it will be an asset to the community.”

WODA Development Specialist Joey DiCesare said the company hopes to develop two projects:

• Booth Point, “an elevator building” on the hillside behind the laundromat geared to the 55-and-older crowd. The $18.2 million project would include 16 one-bedroom apartments renting for $540 to $765 per month, and 32 two-bedroom apartments renting for $575-$860 per month.

• 1439 House, an “adaptive reuse” of the old Brandt dealership. The $23.9 million project would include 29 one-bedroom apartments renting for $540 to $$725 per month, 10 two-bedroom apartments renting for $615 to $815 per month, and 11 single family, three-bedroom homes scattered on the grounds renting for between $605 and $1,015 per month.

DiCesare said actual rent paid would depend on an individual or household income. He also assured council and residents filling the public gallery that no violent offenders or sex offenders would be permitted to live at either property and they’d be staffed by a full-time property manager as well as a full-time service technician.

DiCesare had asked council “to consider writing a letter of support” for the two potential developments, saying the grants they’re after are “an extremely competitive funding source.”

But first Hoover, then McManamon said they didn’t want their names on that letter.

“All of us want economic development in our community, we’re doing all we can to bring (it) to our community,” McManamon said. “But I’m going to vote no as well. I’m not going to sign this petition, I don’t think it’s the right thing at the right time.”

Council also voted unanimously to use $400,000 that had been set aside for their CS03 Phase 2 project to instead cover emergency repairs to the Bryden Road lift station. Council passed the ordinance, treating it as an emergency, by a 7-0 vote.

A second ordinance authorizing City Manager Jim Mavromatis to contract with HDR Engineering for design work for the same project also was approved by the same 7-0 vote.

Sanitation Supervisor Chuck Murphy said they didn’t have many options.

“The only way to do something else is try to get another loan which we really don’t have ability to pay for,” said Murphy, who also nixed the possibility that they could draw money from the wastewater fund because, given the rate at which systems are failing or needing upgrades, “it would take us down to the point where … we’d ultimately end up in a situation where we’d have to raise rates.”

CS03 Phase 2 involves putting in a 24-inch line to “significantly decrease” the mixture of rain water and sewage going to the river when it rains by bringing it to the wastewater treatment plant for treating. That work is required under a consent decree with Ohio EPA and the Attorney General’s office.

But Murphy said the lift station is an emergency: The force main failed and caused the building to begin falling, he said, “and if we didn’t get it taken care of right away (it) would have collapsed and taken the power line to the build out with it.”

He said a lift station “uses pumps to pump the water up a hill from a low area to a higher area so it can flow by gravity.” The force main “is the pipe the lift station’s pumps pump the water through to the top of the hill.”

“This was the type of emergency where as soon as it happened … we had to immediately bring in a contractor,” he said.

Hernon sunshined legislation declaring 241 S. Fifth St. to be a nuisance and ordering its demolition.