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YOUNGSTOWN - A development company is interested in building a battery storage site on 119 acres on the city's East Side, but the property in question cannot be used for business under a 21-year-old wetlands deed restriction with the state.
The property is on Oak Street Extension and Dry Run Creek, a tributary of McKelvey Lake, runs through a portion of it.
DeMaine Kitchen, the city's community planning and economic development (CPED) director, said he and his department are looking at potential options to overturn the state's decision to not permit development at the Oak Street Extension site as well as to see if there are other locations in the city that can be turned into wetlands in a land trade.
Kitchen said: "The city doesn't have a lot of 100-plus-acre sites. We're looking at other lands for a wetland swap. The path to do it is a potential land swap. It doesn't have to be acre for acre. It could be value for value."
Records obtained by The Vindicator show the city already unsuccessfully sought to get the Ohio Public Works Commission to change the deed restriction on the property and was approached by a developer working with a battery storage business for that precise location.
In a May 13 email to Abbey M. DeHart, OPWC director, Stephanie Gilchrist, the city's economic development director, quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and wrote that she "is a dreamer for a city that has waited long enough for its awakening."
Gilchrist wrote that the East Side is the home to "a proud majority of Black and Hispanic residents. Families feel abandoned and forgotten. In 2005, when this property was acquired, city leaders felt that we did not need the land for development because there was no hope of our city being redeveloped or coming back from the economic downturn due to the closing of our mills and massive exodus of our population. I am asking you to look past the ink on the deed and see the soil of our neighborhood. I would like to see how we change a 'no' into a 'how.'"
A day later, DeHart responded that the city received $180,000 in Clean Ohio funds in 2005 with the money awarded largely because of the "conservation benefits identified at the time, including the positive environmental impact on Dry Run Creek and the Mahoning River. These factors contributed significantly to the project's scoring by your Natural Resource Assistance Council (NRAC)."
DeHart wrote: "I recognize the city's broader vision for the East Side and the long-standing challenges the community has faced. That said, the Clean Ohio program does not include a mechanism to remove or lift deed restrictions. These protections were established in perpetuity as part of the conservation commitments accepted when the grant funding was awarded, and the deed language reflects that requirement clearly."
DeHart brings up the option of a "land swap" that "would involve identifying another property of comparable size and value - both monetarily and in conservation - that could be exchanged for the current parcel. Please note that this type of exchange is not solely within my discretion. Your local NRAC would also need to review and approve the proposal. However, it may be a viable option worth exploring."
Kitchen said there are very few sites in the city with more than 100 acres that can be developed. That's why the Oak Street Extension site is so important, he said.
Kitchen said: "The East Side is the last future for development. It's a natural, clean site. I don't know how much is wetlands and how much can be developed."
Emails show that Kirsten Kintner, a land agent for Energy Renewal Partners in Austin, Texas, called the city's CPED department in early September asking about the site for a battery storage facility for an unnamed company.
Energy Renewal Partners provides environmental and consulting services to energy sector clients and has worked on two existing battery storage facilities in Ohio, according to its website.
Battery storage facilities store electricity in rechargeable batteries and release it when demand is high to help the electrical grid.
Gilchrist emailed Kintner on Oct. 20, telling her "the land has a deed restriction. Maybe we can point you into another direction on what we may have available in the city."
In an Oct. 27 response, Kintner wrote her company was "looking to secure an option to purchase for those parcels," and asked about the deed restriction.
Kintner wrote: "An option to purchase differs from an outright purchase because it includes a development review period. During that time, we evaluate whether the site is feasible for development. If we determine that the project cannot move forward for any reason, we would simply release the option and not proceed with the purchase."
Kitchen also emailed Kintner on Oct. 27, asking why this site specifically and that the city "may have an alternative site to explore while we work through this deed issue."
Kintner responded later that day, writing: "It meets the needs as it is very close to the substation. Battery storage projects are often built near substations because it maximizes technical performance, reduces costs and ensures that the storage can deliver immediate, precise and reliable grid services. Is the other site close to a substation?"
Kitchen told The Vindicator that Energy Renewal Partners is "pretty interested" in the Oak Street Extension site, but the city could offer the company space at a business technology park being developed on Exal Court, by Top Property Holdings LLC of North Lima.
Kitchen said: "It's an inquiry. We know the data center talk is the talk. For me, I'm about development. I'm not opposed to a data center. I'm pro-business and pro-development. We'll explore everything. I'm looking to attract jobs. This is not a smoking gun or a backdoor to data centers. This is a proposed battery storage site. It's all about development, job creation and job attraction, and income tax generation."
The city is always looking to acquire property for development, Kitchen said. Areas that could be developed, he said, include Exal Court, the former McGuffey Plaza and the Crab Creek corridor.