Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

MIDDLETOWN — A proposed $350 million cokemaking and electric generation plant that drew the ire of residents and one of the city's largest employers could be located closer to AK Steel's property.

With no discussion following a public hearing, the Middletown Planning Commission unanimously approved rezoning 157 acres along Ohio 4 for the proposed plant at its meeting Wednesday, July 9. It was the second time this year the commission approved the rezoning from residential to industrial.

However, Joseph Trauth, an attorney for Knoxville, Tenn.-based SunCoke Energy, told the commission during a five-hour meeting that the company is in the process of acquiring more land west of Yankee Road, which already is zoned industrial, and would move the proposed coke plant on that land that is contiguous to the 157-acre parcel known as the Bake-Martin farm.

The farmland would be used for rail siding and coal storage. SunCoke's general counsel Mark McCormick said the new location would be 4,000 feet from Garden Manor Retirement Village property.

Shane Craycraft, Garden Manor administrator, said he "appreciates the effort ... but you don't know where that thing is going to sit. The assurance to me that you're going to do the right thing is to give us a plan and a mechanism to monitor."

Opponents and proponents spoke on the zone change proposal as well as a clarification of the city's zoning code regarding setbacks, which was also recommended for approval by Middletown City Council.

Opponent Frank Schiavone said the decision was unbelievable, but he was not surprised by the outcome.

The hearing was the result of a request by SunCoke to have the previous rezoning re-enacted to address alleged deficiencies that were noted in a lawsuit by Garden Manor against the city, council and planning commission.