The Ohio Power Siting Board held a public hearing at the Michael Kusalaba Library to allow people to provide sworn testimony on a proposed transmission line project that's supposed to upgrade and expand the grid.

American Transmissions Systems wants to construct a powerline that would run about 10 kilometers between the Lincoln Park and Riverbend substations in Youngstown and Campbell.

It's a project that wasn't well received back in 2022 when they originally wanted to run the lines though the Youngstown amphitheater.

After going back to the drawing board, First Energy changed course to further accommodate the community but some residents still have their reservations.

"This proposed line would go from end to end across the whole frontage of my property which would obviously decrease the value of the property if i ever went to sell it," Anthony Bell of Youngstown said.

Some who gave testimony felt the project is just not needed.

"We are very concerned," Lynn Anderson of Youngstown said. "We don't know if this will serve the public interest. like i said we're a shrinking community we don't see any real need for this, we don't know why you're back again after the community rejected the transmission line to go across the Youngstown amphitheater. We don't want this intrusive project in Youngstown," she said.

Others who took the stand were worried about the environmental impact the project might have.

"We're very concerned about Lincoln Park and how this would effect the trees that live in Lincoln Park," Mary Danus of Youngstown said. "We're working to increase our canopy here in Youngstown and that could be very detrimental," she said.

The next steps now are for the siting board to take all this information to the evidentiary hearing they will have on December 22nd and let the court make a decision on this project.