HomeGoods postpones next meeting on Lordstown project

LORDSTOWN

If zoning changes for a HomeGoods distribution center are approved, a group of Lordstown residents is discussing a referendum petition to force the changes to a ballot vote.

Village residents Phil Eubank, Kathy Dickson and several others are concerned about changing zoning from residential land to industrial property for the project.

“There’s a lot of residents who have lived there a long time and they have paid taxes and they have put their largest investment, as in their home, into this village. And [local government officials] have put this company before the residents,” Eubank said.

If the zoning changes are approved, a referendum would get going, citizens say – stressing that while they agree with the project’s economic potential, they don’t agree with its proposed location.

HomeGoods, a division of The TJX Companies Inc., which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls department stores, plans to build a 1.2 million-square-foot center on 290 acres along Ellsworth Bailey Road. To do so, two parcels – 174 acres – must be rezoned from residential to industrial.

HomeGoods spokeswoman Erika Tower said the company is continuing “to consider feedback and work through our plans for the potential purchase of this site,” and the company does not have any further specifics about the plan to provide now.

A village planning commission meeting was planned for Monday, but Friday the company canceled the meeting and another session hasn’t been scheduled. HomeGoods did not provide further comment on the cancellation.

For more on the matter, read Saturday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.