YOUNGSTOWN — Opponents of SOBE Thermal Energy Systems Inc.’s plan to shred tires, to be converted into gas to provide steam energy, say the proposal needs approval from the city for a zoning permit — and urged city officials to reject that.

But David Ferro, SOBE’s CEO, strongly disagrees that a city zoning permit is needed. The only approval that is required, he said, comes from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

SOBE Concerned Citizens, a group opposed to the project, met Tuesday with city officials and presented petitions signed by 553 city residents urging Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, city council and the planning commission to take action to not grant a permit for the plant at 205 North Ave., a short distance from the city’s downtown.

Several city officials say they oppose the gasification project, but it’s a state issue and not a Youngstown decision.

Members of SOBE Concerned Citizens said Tuesday that the facility would need a city permit as it’s an industrial facility in an area zoned for mixed use, and the city should reject that request and kill the project because to approve it would be an improper use of spot zoning.

Mixed use under the city’s zoning code permits the use of retail, commercial and residential purposes.

STEAM HEAT PLANT

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in November 2021 approved the sale of Youngstown Thermal Cooling LLC, which provided steam heat to downtown businesses, to SOBE for $250,000. SOBE managed the North Avenue location for a few years before the sale was finalized.

Council President Tom Hetrick, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said: “I believe the city can stop it through zoning. The steam heat plant is grandfathered, but you can’t take it and intensify it. It goes against zoning. This would be an industrial use and that’s not permitted in that zone. If SOBE wants to do it, they need a zone change.”

Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works and a member of the city’s planning commission and zoning board of appeals, also attended Tuesday’s meeting.

Asked about a permit for SOBE, Shasho said: “We will address that as things come up. They haven’t made any zoning application. If they are building, they’ll need a zoning permit.”

Ferro said the project, if approved by the state EPA, wouldn’t need a city zoning permit.

“We’re not changing what we do,” he said. “We’re still making energy. We’re changing how we make energy. We’re changing the energy source. That doesn’t require a zoning permit.”

Ferro said the process at the EPA is “progressing very well,” but said it would be improper to speak about approval as that is the agency’s decision.

There has been talk about SOBE shredding plastic at the Youngstown facility, but Ferro insisted that would never happen there. It would only be tires in Youngstown, he said. Plastic would be used at a future Lowellville facility, he said.

SYNTHETIC GAS

“We’re going to be very clean with zero hazardous waste and zero hazardous emissions,” Ferro said. “We run a very tight, clean operation. To hear environmentalists opposed to us is surprising. It speaks to their lack of knowledge.”

The tire waste products would be converted into a synthetic gas and then that gas would be burned to create energy to heat and cool businesses.

SOBE has more than 40 customers in the downtown area as well as Youngstown State University, Ferro said.

Lynn Anderson, a SOBE Concerned Citizens organizer, said: “We don’t want a SOBE gasification plant placed next to downtown. The plant can’t be there because it’s in a mixed-use zoning area and only steam can be there. We don’t want an organization to do any more burning.”

She added that the synthetic gas is toxic and a highly explosive hazardous material. Also, air emissions would threaten public health, Anderson said.

Before SOBE took over Youngstown Thermal, the company had numerous problems for years operating its cooling system — leaving the handful of downtown businesses that used it without air conditioning during the summer months.

Youngstown Thermal was placed into receivership in 2017 after the PUCO was informed by the company’s former CEO that the business had financial struggles that could have caused an energy crisis downtown. Youngstown Thermal couldn’t ensure adequate service to its customers and was in danger of insolvency when the PUCO stepped in.

Youngstown Thermal is the oldest district heating and cooling system in the country, having begun operations in 1895. It was designed to generate and distribute steam to heat downtown businesses using coal as its main source of fuel.