Zoning rejection good news for village

By Elise Franco

Officials said bringing the McDonald’s warehouse to Lordstown will boost its economy.

LORDSTOWN — A township’s unwanted warehouse could become a village’s treasure.

Efforts to build a 150,000-square foot-warehouse on a 70-acre parcel in Jackson Township were thwarted Tuesday after trustees voted unanimously against rezoning from residential to industrial land on the corner of Blott and South Bailey roads.

This is good news for Lordstown, said Ron Barnhart, planning and zoning administrator.

Barnhart said Anderson-DuBose Co. of Solon, the exclusive distributor for McDonald’s Corp. in this region, has been looking closely at four other properties: one in Columbiana County, one in Pennsylvania and two in Lordstown, for about a month.

“They’re seriously looking at the two sites here in Lordstown,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll choose in the next couple weeks.”

Barnhart said the site garnering the most attention is a 171-acre property on state Route 45 that is owned by General Motors.

He said the land has sewer and water lines and is right next to railroad tracks.

“It’s already zoned industrial and has all the infrastructure in place for what they’ll need,” he said.

The second property is about an eighth of a mile from the first location, on Henn Parkway, Barnhart said. The land is 30 acres, which is what Anderson-DuBose said is needed for the proposed $9 million warehouse.

A company representative previously said it would serve 488 McDonald’s restaurants in Ohio and Pennsylvania and 39 Chipotle restaurants. A spokesperson from Anderson-DuBose Co. did not return a Wednesday afternoon request to comment.

Walt Good, Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber vice president of economic development, said the chamber has been active in ensuring the McDonald’s warehouse project stays local.

“We’ve been courting this project for over a year now,” he said. “We have been working with them to identify sites that are attractive to them and could meet the requirements they need to build their warehouse.”

Lordstown Mayor Michael Chaffee said the village has been working with Anderson-DuBose Co. for several months to make this deal happen.

Home to the General Motors plant that produces the Chevrolet Cobalt and is launching the Chevrolet Cruze in April, Lordstown residents are used to an industrial way of life — something that turned so many residents in North Jackson off from the project.

“We think we have some great sites and some great incentive packages,” Chaffee said. “We’d love to have them. We are definitely a community that would welcome them.”

Barnhart said Lordstown was dealt a massive blow when the economy turned down, and the warehouse paired with the restored second shift at GM could be just what the village needs.

“The economy has hit Lordstown more than anybody else in the Valley because of GM, which is where 85 percent of our income is from,” he said. “It would help us diversify quite a bit. It will boost our economy. ... Our job is economic development.”

efranco@vindy.com