Saturday, August 25, 2018
By Jessica Hardin
WARREN
The excitement was palpable in Judge Peter Kontos’ courtroom Friday as Lords- town leaders gathered to show support for Bill Siderewicz, developer of a proposed second gas-fired power plant in the Lordstown Industrial Park.
Those in attendance expected to receive definitive positive news regarding the plant’s future, but instead left Trumbull County Common Pleas Court before 11 a.m. without answers.
One reason there was no resolution was that the owners of the nearly complete first Lordstown power plant filed an appeal Monday with the 11th District Court of Appeals regarding an earlier decision, putting the case on hold.
Instead of a hearing in the courtroom, the attorneys for both sides talked in the judge’s chambers. He apparently urged the parties to mediate the dispute as the appeal proceeds.
A preliminary injunction, granted in November 2017, ordered the first Lordstown plant to sign a document necessary for the construction of the proposed second power plant.
Advocates for a second plant, including Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill, left the courtroom disappointed. “I was hoping we would have some sort of resolution today,” he said.