Austintown Trustees vote unanimously to rezone former bar in township
Members of the Austintown Township Board of Trustees met on Monday to discuss the possibility of rezoning three parcels that originally housed a bar in the township.
Board Chairman Bruce Shepas told 21 News that the board voted unanimously to rezone the three parcels along South Four Mile Run Road from a commercial B2 property to a business B1 property.
The change would mean that the former Zodiac Lounge & Grill property is now zoned for professional, non-retail services as a B1 property, instead of a general retail space where customers could purchase goods and services under a commercial B2 property.
Shepas says that this would effectively remove the property as a site for a bar, for example.
The rezoning of the Zodiac Lounge & Grill had been debated since December 2024, when trustees demanded that the business be shut down following several incidents of criminal activity.
Shepas shared that police were sent out to the building for calls of service more than 120 times over a 25-year period from October 2000 to October 2025. These calls for service were made up of incidents such as assault, gunfire and one bomb threat.
