TRUMBULL COUNTY Business files lawsuit over zoning
No hearing date has been set.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A business that wants to operate a construction and demolition debris facility in Hubbard Township has filed a lawsuit alleging that township officials are using zoning as a way to block the business from opening.
TransRail American Inc., a Maryland, for-profit corporation, filed the lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. No hearing date has been set.
The suit states that TransRail owns about 255 acres on Mount Everett Road. The suit further states that the area is zoned industrial, which would permit the operation of a construction and demolition debris facility.
In May, however, Jonathan Dowell, chairman of the township trustees, informed TransRail that the area is zoned light industrial, and if the company wishes to operate a C & amp;DD facility it must apply for a zone change to heavy industrial.
"The township has advised them all along that to be in a light industrial district the business must be enclosed and not create an odor," said Atty. Alan Wenger, who represents the township. "The business they are proposing is not light industrial."
Referring to amendment
The suit further notes that in 1983 the township amended its zoning resolution, eliminating the zoning classification of industrial and creating two districts -- one for light industrial, the other heavy industrial.
"At no time from the amendment of the Hubbard Township Zoning Resolution to the present has Hubbard Township ever enacted legislation amending its zoning map so as to denote those properties within the township which are zoning [a] light industrial district or heavy industrial district," the suit states.
The suit adds that no property or properties within the township are zoned heavy industrial.
Zoning that does not permit a C & amp;DD facility to operate in a community is unconstitutional, invalid, and in conflict with state law, the suit states.
The company is asking the court to rule that the property can be used for a C & amp;DD facility and that the land does not need to be rezoned.
The company also is awaiting approval of an application for a license they filed with the Trumbull County Board of Health. The license is needed so the company can operate the landfill.
If the board of health rejects the license, TransRail can reapply to the health board or appeal its decision to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission, a state agency.
sinkovich@vindy.com