Proposed plant clears big hurdle (06/06/06)

The roar softened to a growl.

But a decision to move forward with a controversial project surely didn’t make opponents happy.

Members of the public who attended Monday’s Portland City Council meeting once again spoke against the proposed plant.

Unlike last week’s meeting of a zoning advisory board, however, opponents expressed opinions without applause, cheers, and jeers.

The outcome was the same.

The council voted 5-2 to re-zone the approximately 180 acres needed for Premier Ethanol LLC to build a plant on a parcel located along the southeast side of Ind. 67, near Meshberger Brothers Stone Corp.

A second reading and vote on the ordinance to re-zone the property will likely be held Monday, June 19.

Before the council voted Monday, Portland resident Roger Domingo urged council members to make the right decision.

“This is a milestone decision. A yes decision tonight would really be a green light. Your decision tonight is, is this the right decision for Portland and Jay County? Get all your ducks in a row so that you aren’t someone else’s sitting duck.”

Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation, encouraged the council to do what’s best for the city.

He said the city should continue to grow.

“If you don’t, you die. If you have a responsibility it’s to grow this city.”

Council members Jim Sanders and Dolphus Stephens cast the dissenting votes. Stephens declined to vote at Thursday’s commission meeting.

Stephens said Monday night he voted no because the results of a water study are not available. The company has said it has three options for acquiring the nearly 600,000 gallons of water it will require daily. Nearby residents are concerned that the high volume of water required by the plant could drain their wells.

Sanders this morning concurred with Stephens’ reasons for voting against the re-zoning.

The re-zoning to planned unit development-industrial from agricultural was discussed for one-and-a-half hours. After council members voted, at least one audience member cried.

The re-zoning was granted pending the results of engineering studies being done on water supply issues, and whether the company receives necessary permits from Indiana Department of Environmental Management for air and water discharge. These stipulations were recommended by the planning commission.

Once the final plans for the plant are complete, they will have to be presented to the Portland Planning Commission for approval before construction can begin. The date for this meeting has not yet been set.

Before audience members were allowed to speak, Bruce Hosier, mayor of Portland, set some ground rules. He said clapping, cheering and making disrespectful comments would not be tolerated. Those guidelines were observed.

Several issues brought up at the commission meeting — including traffic, pollution and water supply — were again discussed Monday.

After an official with Broin Companies, which is working with Premier on the development of the plant, explained the project to the council, the first audience member to speak was local attorney Lon Racster.

Racster, who also was the first local resident to speak at the planning commission meeting, again set the tone for the rest of the evening. But this time, the tone was much more mellow.

Racster, whose home is located about a half-mile west-northwest of the proposed plant, reviewed the contents of a packet he had distributed to council members since the planning commission meeting. It contained news releases about Broin, information on pollutants produced by ethanol plants produce and lawsuits filed against Broin.

He also said he was concerned about the increase in traffic near the ethanol plant.

“I think all of you are acquainted with the curve where Meshberger’s trucks exit,” Racster said. “That is a very heavily traveled road.”

Racster said he was concerned about safety when the students of Jay County High School are going to and from school.

Broin officials have estimated there will be an average of 75 to 85 semi trucks going to the plant per day to deliver corn.

Another local resident also was concerned about traffic.

When you go to your mailbox “you about get run over,” said Connie Chowning, 1207 W. Votaw St. “I don’t want 90 more trucks going up and down” that highway.

Racster also asked if the project was being pushed through in a hurry to beat The Andersons, which also is considering building an ethanol plant near Dunkirk.

“There’s an insinuation here that we’ve ignored ... The Andersons,” said Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation. “It never will be the position of JCDC to ignore” existing companies in the county, he said. Quadrozzi said he has been working with Andersons officials since February or March on the possibility of building an ethanol plant.

Dr. James Clear, a local chiropractor who lives on county road 100 South to the northeast of the proposed site, expressed his concern about pollution caused by the plant, as he did at last week’s planning commission meeting and a letter to the editor of The Commercial Review.

He also asked Monday why Broin officials want to build the plant so close to Portland.

“This area has an ample supply of corn,” said Bob Berens, director of site development for Broin Companies. Corn is used in the production of ethanol. The area also is close to a highway and a railroad line, he said. “All the components came together,” Berens said.[[In-content Ad]]The city’s mayor and clerk-treasurer will no longer get health insurance coverage for $1 a year.

Members of the Portland City Council voted to approve the city’s payroll ordinances for 2007 on second reading, with the amendment that the mayor and clerk-treasurer, will pay $10 per pay period for single insurance coverage and $50 per pay period for family coverage.

The two currently pay $1 per year for single or family coverage. City employees and elected officials are paid every two weeks.

Council members discussed this change at the May 15 council meeting. Councilman Bill Gibson said because current clerk-treasurer Linda Kennedy and mayor Bruce Hosier were given two large pay increases in the last two years they should pay the same rate for health insurance as other city employees.

There was no discussion before the unanimous vote Monday night.

The payroll ordinances increase the annual salary of city officials and city department heads by 2.5 percent.

The pay increase will raise the annual salary of Hosier to $42,688 from $41,648. Kennedy’s salary will rise to $41,936 from $40,914.

With the increase, each city council member will make $3,295 per year instead of $3,215 per year. The city court judge’s salary will increase to $12,680 from $12,371.

With the 2.5 percent pay increase, the street and park department superintendent, fire chief, police chief, water department superintendent and wastewater treatment superintendent will all make $40,318 per year, up from $39,335.

Also Monday, council members:

•Granted a re-zoning request for a Portland business.

Chris Jones, owner of Renegade Customs, 730 S. Meridian St., asked for the lot his building sits on and the two next to the building to be zoned highway service rather than neighborhood business, so he could sell vintage and hot rod cars.

•Learned Omnicity, based in Indianapolis, will be loaned $30,100 in economic development income tax funds to expand broadband wireless Internet access services throughout the county.

The funds will be paid back over five years at 1 percent over the prime lending rate, said Bob Quadrozzi, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation.

Quadrozzi said the council is not required to take action on the matter because the capital improvement plan allows up to $100,000 in EDIT funds to be loaned without permission from the city council.

•Voted to grant a Portland business a $2.1 million tax abatement.

Quadrozzi said Alphabet Inc.-Portland Division, 700 Industrial Park drive, requested a five-year abatement to purchase a new assembly line. The new equipment will not create any additional jobs, he said.

Normally, the council reviews the request, then sends it to the Portland Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to review. It then goes back to the council for final approval. Because the committee was already meeting on another matter, Quadrozzi went ahead and presented it to the committee. The advisory committee met on May 30, he said.

A tax abatement allows companies to pay taxes on new investment in increasing increments over several years.

•Approved compliance forms for seven local businesses which have been granted five-year tax abatements.

Council members vote yearly on the compliance forms for each abatement.

•Gave the pastor of a local church permission to close a portion of Alexander Street for Vacation Bible School from June 19-23.

Steve Arnold, of the Evangelical Methodist Church, 930 W. Main St., asked the council to close the portion of Alexander Street, located between Main Street and an alley north of the church. Arnold said the street would need to be blocked off between 6 to 8 p.m.

Children attending Bible school have to cross the street to go from the church to the parsonage. This will make the street safer for the children, he said. A similar request was granted last year.