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LORDSTOWN -- Village officials have approved an agreement with Crescent Dune, which will provide funding for engineering and construction costs for a waterline extension and additional traffic control signals by the former General Motors building that the company plans to expand next year.
Solicitor Matt Ries said at Monday's council meeting that after several months of work, the agreement has been finalized and signed by Crescent Dune officials. Ries said Crescent Dune, which owns the former General Motors property, has agreed to install waterline connectors from the property to the waterline on Hallock Young Road.
Officials with Crescent Dune also have agreed to replace the traffic control signals on Hallock Young Road by the building as well.
"We have spoken to their lawyers and wanted to make sure we had all of our answers addressed," Ries said.
The ordinance passed by council states that Crescent Dune is expanding the facility at 2300 Hallock Young Road, which will require an increased supply of water from the village's water supply system.
The expansion includes the extension of a water main, which will connect to the existing waterline on Ellsworth Bailey and Hallock Young roads. The expansion also includes traffic signal improvements for eight existing village traffic signals along Hallock Young and Ellsworth Bailey roads to address increased traffic expected from the company's expansion.
At a previous council meeting, Philip McCauley of Soft Bank and Andrew Schwabecher of Sky Vault addressed council about their plans for the company and the property.
Schwabecher said the Lordstown location will be part of Sky Vault's site plans for manufacturing shipping steel containers with those plans presented last September and approved by the village's planning commission.
He said the shipping containers will be manufactured in Asia, delivered to the United States by ocean freight to Long Beach, California, and then will be trucked into the Lordstown facility.
In September 2025, the village planning commission was given a site plan review for the Foxconn facility expansion, which will consist of three building expansions, a new proof-of-concept modular building and the renovation of an existing concrete pad at the northeast end of the existing building.
Company officials had told the planning commission the expansion was designed for the manufacturing of AI server components and infrastructure. The modular building will be a small showroom to serve as the proof of concept for larger data centers constructed offsite.
The new 145,337-square-foot building will be constructed to the southeast of the solar panel field, which will be removed at the property.
Officials have said the existing use of the buildings is manufacturing and storage of electric vehicles and components, with the building to be used for manufacturing and storage of AI server components and equipment.
Officials have said there would be 3,000 employees with 1,500 per shift. However, village officials said they have been told there would be fewer employees.
The tentative construction schedule is this fall or early 2027.
When asked by the planning commission members if the building would be a data center, company officials said it would not be a working data center, but would be for engineering and design.
Mayor Jackie Woodward said Ries will look into the permit approved in 2025 to see if it is still good for the company since some of their plans have changed.
"They will need to come back to the planning commission if there are any modifications to their original site plans," she said.
In other business Monday, council members Jessica Blank and Ronald Radtka said plans are moving forward with relocation of the administrative building offices, which include the mayor, clerk, finance/tax department and planning/zoning office into the former Lordstown library building, which is one floor and handicapped accessible.
Road Supervisor Martin Nelder said drawings are being worked on for how the offices will be laid out inside the building, which is located near the administration building.