Final Village Council TJX vote now set for Jan. 2

LORDSTOWN — Village Council will now give a third reading and possibly approve a 10-year, 75-percent enterprise-zone agreement for the TJX/HomeGoods distribution center project at 6 p.m. Jan. 2.

Final vote was expected tonight but was delayed because of amendments made to the agreement by HomeGoods.

Mark Walker, vice president of marketing for HomeGoods, gave a description of the changes in the agreement. One of them gives HomeGoods more time to meet one of the target dates for reaching certain employment levels.

He said that flexibility is necessary in case HomeGoods would lose a lot of employees in the event of some other business needing a lot of employees.

The agreement would reduce property taxes for for the next 10 years for the proposed 1.25 million-square-foot warehouse on Ellsworth Baily Road.

Council voted 5-0 to amend the agreement with Councilman Ron Radtka abstaining because he is involved in a land deal for the project.

If council approves it, it will go to the Trumbull County commissioners, who are expected to approve it.

HomeGoods said in October the abatement is necessary to make the Lordstown site “competitive with other alternative sites being considered.”

HomeGoods has said the project will create 1,000 jobs by 2024.

It will provide Lordstown Schools with about $400,000 per year of additional tax revenue and the village with about $150,000 more, village and school officials say. The village and schools worked out a revenue-sharing agreement that allows the school district to receive some of the income taxes that would have gone to the village ordinarily.

HomeGoods has also offered to give the school district a one-time payment of $500,000 for school-security upgrades such as metal detectors and construction of an athletic building.

HomeGoods says the facility is expected to have annual payroll of $27 million and cost $140 to $170 million to build.