Rezoning denied for "megasite" in New Russia Township (UPDATED)

NEW RUSSIA TWP. — The New Russia Township Zoning Commission voted 4-1 Tuesday to recommend denying the proposed rezoning of more than 600 acres of land to allow for development of the so-called "mega site" near the Lorain County Regional Airport. Commission members Geoff Kudlo, Dawn Essex, Kim Guelker and Jina Jordan voted to deny the application by Liberty Development of Westlake and its four clients, all property owners seeking to re-designate their property to industrial park. Commission Chairman Jim Griner was the lone "no" vote. The commission is appointed. The final decision rests with the elected township board of trustees. A crowd of hundreds in The Lodge of New Russia Township erupted in cheers when Kudlo made a motion recommending the rezoning application be denied. The vote came at the end of a public hearing lasting nearly three hours. Kudlo said he saw no public necessity or public safety requiring the change, that there was no benefit to the general welfare and the change was not in keeping with good zoning practices. "I have not heard any testimony ... that this is in the benefit of the public necessity and public safety of New Russia Township. There's been lots of testimony ... that it would be a public burden," he said. Residents seeking to keep the land from being rezoned for future industrial development packed the township hall Tuesday night opposed to the plan, despite entreaties by Dru Siley of Liberty Development, who said he, his firm and its clients are willing to work with the township and its residents for managed growth. Siley called the site special, and Erin Davis, a township resident and critic of the rezoning who begged the commission to vote against the rezoning, agreed, although not for the same reasons. "It's special, 100 percent special, but not the way you're looking at it with manufacturing," she said. "God made it absolutely gorgeous." Critics fear an artificial intelligence, or AI, data center could be built on the "mega site." Such data centers use large amounts of water and electricity and are criticized for polluting the air and water around them. Siley said Tuesday that the mega site "is not being set up as a data center campus." However, one of the property owners is Ceres Farms, an Indiana-based company that invests in U.S. farmland and is owned by WisdomTree, a New York-based company that invests in AI data infrastructure. Responding to concerns about voting on a measure to rezone the property when no one knows what will be put there, Siley admitted it's hard to know who might want to develop it. Those kinds of businesses "won't even talk to us until the zoning is in place," he said. Development on the 622-acre area to be rezoned can have a "generational impact" like the auto and steel industries used to, Siley said. Those industries "were here a long time and left," he said, and his company hopes to "try and develop this in a way that should that ever happen, we're not leaving a blighted site." He said Liberty is offering promises above and beyond what's required in the township zoning code and wants to work with those who want to preserve township farmland. "We want to be open and transparent as we can," Siley said. Hundreds of township and county residents turned out at a meeting in December to object to the initial proposal to rezone 622 acres, most between Oberlin Road and state Route 58 north of Russia Road. That proposal was withdrawn in early January, resubmitted and a 40-acre parcel owned by the Simms family was added. Davis promised that if the application ever comes back a third time, she and its opponents will come back stronger and with more backup. "The next time you withdraw this application, it had better be for good, because we'll keep coming back," she said, to loud applause from supporters in the crowd. Critics also have concerns about construction, noise, flooding, traffic, the loss of farmland and the effect on their property values. More than 5,100 people have signed an online petition against the zoning change and mega site. The county has accepted more than $67 million in grants from the state to develop utilities to attract development to the mega site. Supporters of the plan say it will benefit the county with jobs, economic development and growth. Lorain County commissioners have said they want to bring investment and jobs to the county while expanding the nearby Lorain County Regional Airport. The county planning commission made an advisory-only recommendation last month that supported rezoning the property. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com