Residents host private HomeGoods meeting tonight

Staff report

LORDSTOWN

A group of residents will have a private, invitation-only meeting tonight to discuss the HomeGoods warehouse/distribution center project.

HomeGoods, which is a part of TJX Companies, wants to build a 1.2-million-square-foot facility on 290 acres on Ellsworth-Bailey Road. But to do so, all seven parcels of the land need to be rezoned from residential to industrial.

Residents are mostly concerned about the use of residential land for the project when the village has available industrial land.

A group that calls itself “Lords-town Concerned Residents” has conducted an in-depth study on what industrial properties are available for the project. The study will be discussed at the private meeting taking place at the Lords-town Administration Building.

Earlier this month, HomeGoods said based on “environmental, roadway access, site configuration or time-line concerns,” the Ellsworth-Bailey Road property is the best location for the project.

The company had meetings with concerned citizens in March and then added some enhancements to the site to make it more appealing to residents.

The village planning commission will review the zone change requests at its meeting next Wednesday.

If village council approves the zoning changes, a group of village residents said they plan to have a referendum to force those changes to a vote.