LORDSTOWN Village, landfill settle lawsuit

The ordinance will receive two more readings before passage.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LORDSTOWN -- An agreement between the village and operators of a local landfill will end a civil lawsuit between the two sides once it's approved next month.
Council gave the first reading Monday to an ordinance allowing Mayor Michael A. Chaffee to enter into an agreement with Lordstown Construction Recovery that would settle the lawsuit, which was filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in 2002.
Village leaders originally filed the suit against LCR and its parent company, Lafarge North America, to try to stop the landfill from opening, but the agreement allows the facility to continue to accept construction waste with certain restrictions.
"This ordinance has been a long time coming," said Councilman Richard Biggs, referring to the ongoing negotiations between the two sides. "They've been very cooperative with us. I think we've worked out an agreement that we can live with."
Much of the written agreement centers on issues officials from LCR had proposed even before construction of the landfill began, including not locating any portion of it within 50 feet of any neighboring property line, limiting hours of operation between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and that LCR will not seek any solid waste, hazardous waste, medical waste or friable asbestos waste disposal license for any landfill site in the village.
The agreement does not preclude LCR, however, from applying to become a solid waste transfer station in the future.
Fee per ton
The terms additionally allow the village to collect 25 cents for every ton of debris accepted by the landfill. At present, the site only accepts waste by rail car, with each car averaging between 60 and 80 tons.
The agreement also restricts the height of debris hills to 200 feet, meaning they will be no higher than current piles of slag at the site, explained Tim Page, operations manager for LCR.
He noted that slag piles, which has been accepted at the site since the 1940s, previously reached as high as 500 feet.
Council plans to give three full readings to the ordinance, which will take place at the next two regular meetings.
Once the ordinance is approved, the lawsuit will be dismissed, as will an appeal against the company's operating permit the village filed with the Trumbull County Board of Health.
slshaulis@vindy.com