Chamber, TJX has private meeting with area residents on warehouse project

LORDSTOWN — When Bob Luzadder II built his log cabin years ago, he nestled it far back into the woods off Pritchard-Ohltown Road.

“What do you hear?” he asked as he stood near the cabin last week.

The answer: nothing.

Bob built there to relish that sound of nothing, and also to be close to his father, whose house is about 400 feet away.

The Luzadder property features a pond and picnic area for family enjoyment.

“This was solid woods when we first moved here,” Luzadder said.

For the first time in 28 years, however, he’s concerned his quiet lifestyle could be in for an abrupt change.

HomeGoods, a division of The TJX Companies Inc., which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls department stores, wants to build a 1.2 million square-foot warehouse/distribution center in the village.

The plan includes seven parcels along Ellsworth Bailey Road, according to the Lordstown Zoning department. One of those seven parcels is connected to the Ludzadder land.

All the parcels are currently zoned residential.

The owners of two of the parcels HomeGoods plans to develop have submitted requests for zone changes from residential to industrial. The two parcels total about 174 acres of the 290-acre development. The proposed site plan includes adding traffic lights on Ellsworth Bailey Road and realigning Hallock-Young Road, because the road runs right through the site.

“We evaluated many sites as part of this process, and the current proposed site offers us a size and configuration that will meet our business needs, allow for the specific needs of situating this building on the land, and lessen the impact on the neighboring area,” said Erika Tower, spokeswoman for HomeGoods, in a statement to The Vindicator.

Last week, hundreds of residents – many of them angry about the zone changes – vented at a town hall meeting. On Tuesday, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, which helped HomeGoods in its search for distribution space, will have a private meeting with the company and area residents.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com