Tuesday, June 10, 2014LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- The village planning commission last night vetoed a zoning change for a 57-acre site where Clean Energy Future LLC said it hoped to build an $800 million natural-gas fuel power plant on Salt Springs Road.
The vote was 4-1 against the project.
Clean Energy Future, based in Manchester, Mass., announced in April that it optioned 57 acres for the project. The company said construction could begin by the end of 2015 with the plant up and running by fall 2018 (READ STORY).
Clean Energy Future has helped develop power-generation plants in California, Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania. Among the most recent were two ventures in Ohio -- one in Fremont, near Sandusky, the other in Oregon, in Lucas County.
The company needed a zoning change to industrial from business/residential for the site. The 57 acres are situated among several high-voltage power lines, which the company said made it an ideal location for the plant and unappealing to potential homebuilders.
Clean Energy Future estimated the plant would take up about 14 acres of the site. Two public hearings were held on the proposed zoning change (READ STORY). A concern frequently raised by residents was how the other 43 acres would be used.
Lordstown officials reportedly want the company to look at other sites in the village.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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