HOWLAND — There have been talks involving the Western Reserve Port Authority and Howland Township officials about forming an agreement that would go a long way toward redeveloping and improving the marketability of the legacy Republic Steel site.

It’s one of the largest, if not the largest, shovel-ready sites in Ohio — where the Mahoning Valley’s last remaining blast furnace was torn down in 2017.

What’s been discussed is a Joint Economic Development District, or JEDD, according to the agenda from a May 5 meeting.

The document was provided to this newspaper as part of a public records request.

Anthony

Trevena, port authority executive director, said a JEDD is “one of the potential tools” for economic development at the site, which he said has no confirmed end-user. The port authority would not benefit from such an agreement, but owns the more than 1,000 acres where the steelmaking facility once stood, Trevena said.

“The JEDD conversation would be taking place no matter who would be considering it,” Trevena said.

Howland Administrator Darlene St. George said there have been no meetings or talks beyond the May 5 meeting.

A similar meeting occurred three to four years ago, but those discussions went nowhere, she said it,” Trevena said.

Howland Administrator Darlene St. George said there have been no meetings or talks beyond the May 5 meeting.

A similar meeting occurred three to four years ago, but those discussions went nowhere, she said

Also part of the latest meeting were representatives from Warren and Warren Township, according to St. George.

JEDDs in Ohio are special-purpose districts created by municipalities and townships that could allow income tax revenue sharing between the communities and protect against annexation while promoting economic development.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin said the city has had a history of working with Howland and Warren townships since BDM Warren Steel Holdings LLC purchased the property. Franklin said talks between the city and the two townships regarding a JEDD agreement happened a few years ago, but those talks were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most of the actual steel mill was in Howland Township,” Franklin said. “However, Warren city supplied the water for that company (for the WCI mill) for years. It was our largest water customer. The administration building was also in the city of Warren, right across the street.”

The mayor continued: “We saw that … the property was in this sort of idle status, that we could maybe form a JEDD, and this was years ago, to take advantage of any economic opportunities that would benefit all communities if an investor or a company wanted to locate there.”

THE LAND

The port authority in 2021 gained control of the land, also the former RG Steel, when BDM approached it with an offer to donate more than 800 acres on Pine Avenue SE.

Later, BDM came back to the port authority about acquiring 200 more acres adjacent to the site, west of the Cleveland Cliffs coke plant.

That land would be used to connect the 825 acres to points west, including a prime industrial development and a transportation corridor in Lordstown.

Franklin said that talks about a JEDD agreement resumed at the meeting in May, this time with the port authority as the owners of the property. He said the port authority encouraged the communities to go forward with the JEDD, but that no further meetings or talks have occurred since. Franklin said talks between the parties will likely happen again soon.

The larger portion of the land already has received a clean bill of health from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The agency, in October 2021, granted a covenant not to sue after BDM completed remediation at the site. The covenant protects the owner or future owners from being legally responsible to the state for further environmental investigation and cleanup.

The smaller 200-acre site is undergoing a environmental study to see what remediation needs to be done, Trevena said earlier this year.

“We’re working with other interested parties to potentially develop it into a large opportunity like manufacturing,” Trevena has said. “We’ve been showing the property to (companies) looking for large plots of land for development. We’re hopeful to restore that to productive use and see jobs on that site again soon.”

The property was used to produce multiple forms of steel from 1912 to 2012. The last steel producer was RG Steel, which sold the mill to BDM in 2012, when RG Steel went bankrupt. BDM immediately started looking for a new buyer. With none in sight, BDM auctioned parts of the mill in spring 2013 and began tearing down buildings and started to market the land. The blast furnace, the last remaining one in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, was torn down in 2017.