LORDSTOWN — With plans for a $2.3 billion battery-cell plant to be located in the community, village officials are concerned about Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issues with 60 acres of wetland that are part of the 158-acre property off Tod Avenue where the facility will be built.

Mayor Arno Hill and other officials said at Monday’s meeting that North Point Development LLC, which had owned the property, had workers clear that land — creating the wetlands at the site with their equipment.

“They cleared that, and with their equipment created ruts in the soil,” Hill said.

Hill said the ruts later had plant growth, creating what some consider a wetland.

“If they would have instead graded it off, you wouldn’t have had any issue at all. We now have an issue of having to mitigate about 60 acres instead of four or five acres,” Hill said.

Hill said he believes 55 acres of the wetland was man-made when the land was cleared.

“The question is, what is a wetland? A tire rut with plant growth is not a wetland,” he said.

The property is in the 7300 block of Tod Avenue between Salt Springs and Hallock Young roads.

Attempts to reach North Point for comment were unsuccessful.

The issue will be among topics planned to be addressed at a meeting, 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the village municipal building, with GM officials scheduled to discuss the project and the EPA wetland issue.

Hill said GM officials have already spoken to representatives of Friends of the Mahoning River about the wetland issue.

The EPA hearing on wetlands and environmental issues on the property is set for 6 p.m. March 12 at Lordstown High School.

GM has filed applications with the Ohio EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers for permits to build on the site.

Officials at the meeting said they are concerned over the EPA’s focus on wetlands mitigation and questioned whether the damaged acres qualify under the agency’s regulations.

The EPA guidelines indicate degradation of water quality would be offset through appropriate mitigation.

Village Engineer Chris Chris Kogelnik said he questioned if something should be placed in the village planning books, if a developer’s activity on a property created or partially created wetlands.

“Perhaps we can have something in our current planning codes to prevent a developer from leaving a site like this,” he said.

Parks / Grounds Superintendent Dale Grimm said he has also spoken to the Trumbull County engineer of concerns over wetlands at the property.