Citizens group will appeal zoning decision

A state environmental review commission will weigh in Aug. 3.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HUBBARD -- A spokesman for the group fighting a Hubbard Township construction demolition and debris landfill says a court ruling this week that aids the landfill owner's cause will be appealed.
"It's going to be a long, drawn-out battle," said Rick Hernandez, part of the citizens group Hubbard Environmental and Land Preservation. "We're going to have a fight on our hands. We're not going anywhere."
The ruling by Judge W. Wyatt McKay in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court said the zoning at the Trans Rail America Inc. site allows for CD & amp;D landfills. But Hernandez said this won't allow the company to operate such a facility anytime soon.
In addition to the appeals process, Hernandez said Trans Rail America still must navigate a number of other issues, such as getting a license to operate from the county health department.
Judge McKay said Trans Rail America's 243-acre property at 6415 Mount Everett Road is properly classified as industrial. The township had argued that the property is zoned "light industrial" and such a designation prohibits CD & amp;D landfills.
Judge McKay's ruling came in a 2004 lawsuit Trans Rail filed against the township. Though the case involved the township and not the citizens group, Hernandez said he has been advised that the decision can be appealed even if the township chooses not to pursue it.
Questioning the proceedings
Hernandez said he wonders if the case might have been decided differently by a jury than by a judge. Hernandez said a jury might have included citizens from Hubbard Township, who might have appreciated the potential environmental impact the proposed landfill could have on nearby homes.
"I'm very disappointed in the decision," Hernandez said. "The whole community feels we've been given the raw end of the deal because it was not heard by a jury."
The ruling is separate from a lawsuit the company filed in common pleas court this spring appealing a decision by the Hubbard Township Board of Zoning Appeals. In that suit, the company asked for a zoning permit to operate a "store and forward" facility at the site. The township zoning office and zoning appeals board denied it. That case remains pending before Judge McKay.
With regard to the landfill application, the county health department has sent Trans Rail's application back to the company two times for being incomplete. After the second time, on June 30, Trans Rail appealed the health department's actions to the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission in Columbus, which will hear the matter Aug. 3.
Fred Hanley, Hubbard Township trustee, had no comment on the ruling and said he didn't know whether it would be appealed.
A woman who answered at Trans Rail's phone number in Hubbard Township hung up when told that a newspaper reporter was calling.
Time line
Judge McKay's ruling said the township adopted a comprehensive land use plan in October 2003 designating the Trans Rail property as light industrial. Trans Rail had bought the property four months earlier.
The township notified Trans Rail, based in Maryland, in May 2004 that its zoning classification would not allow the operation of a CD & amp;D landfill, and the company filed the suit in July 2004.
The ruling states that the court "wholly rejects the notion that [Hubbard Township] ever effectuated a rezoning of [Trans Rail's] property from its original industrial classification to light industrial."
The judge found the township's November 2003 revision of the township zoning map had no legal effect in changing the zoning classification of Trans Rail's property to light industrial.
Linda Adams, office assistant for the Ohio ERAC office, said Trans Rail filed the appeal on the grounds that the health department had made a final decision on its application to operate the landfill and that the decision was incorrect.
The commission hears appeals of final decisions by such agencies as local health boards, the EPA and the state fire marshal's office, Adams said, adding that the commission is independent of the EPA or any other state office. It consists of three commission members appointed by the governor.
Adams said the commission's hearing Aug. 3 will be an informal one in which the parties will discuss what the issues are. The commission usually issues an order 30 days after its hearing, she said.
runyan@vindy.com