New Old Dominion Terminal to Relocate Girard Workers, Add 20

LORDSTOWN, Ohio – The Trumbull County Planning Commission agreed to take under advisement an enterprise zone agreement for Old Dominion Freight Line to build a multi-million-dollar terminal in Lordstown.

The agreement includes a 60% tax abatement for 10 years. Old Dominion will create 20 full-time jobs within five years – and potentially 40 within 10 years – and relocate the existing 48 workers from its current site in Girard. The maximum investment for the incentive is $6 million; in early March, Old Dominion said the project would cost about $7 million.

“Where they’re currently located, they’re landlocked. They’re looking to do an expansion and will relocate the jobs from Girard to this new Lordstown facility,” said Nicholas Coggins, economic development coordinator of the planning commission. “We’ve gone through the environmental reviews and the new location does not have issues with the floodplain or natural wetland inventory that we could find.”

The new building, at 30,400 square feet, will include 59 loading bays, more than doubling the capacity over the Girard terminal. The 15-acre site will also include fuel islands and “other necessary equipment for their freight motor operations,” Coggins said.

On Monday, Lordstown Village Council did not act on the project in order to continue negotiations with the Lordstown School Board. Rather than reschedule the public hearing session to accommodate the required 14-day notice period, the Trumbull County Board of Commissioners held it as planned Wednesday. The commissioners will take action on the tax incentive after Lordstown Village Council makes its decision.

“If the municipality doesn’t approve it, the commissioners probably will not. We can’t say for certain, but normally when that happens, they don’t,” Coggins said.

Negotiations between village council and the school board is over how the two will split the new tax revenue brought in by the project. Under the Ohio Revised Code, tax abatements that come with an increase of $1 million or more in annual payroll require the affected municipality and school board to enter into a revenue sharing agreement.

Based on the average salary of the positions Old Dominion will be adding at the new Lordstown terminal, the added payroll will be just over that threshold, about $1.1 million, Coggins said.

“They have six months to get it in place, but I think they want to get it done. If you get the incentive in place and don’t have an agreement, Ohio Revised Code makes it default to a 50-50 split,” he said. “They want to have that in place before they do the approval.”

Some site work is underway at the parcel, 7570 Tod Ave. SW. The site is across the street from Lordstown Energy Center and northwest of Lordstown Motors’ assembly plant. Not far away are several other trucking companies.

“FedEx is out there. UPS is out there. XPO is there. Down the road in North Jackson, Transport America is there,” Coggins said. “In North Jackson, you have 80 and 76 running through as a regular highway and in Lordstown it comes through as the turnpike. On that strip, it puts you five miles from two major highways that can get you anywhere. It’s an amazing place for logistics and transportation.”

The proximity to the Ohio Turnpike also allows for greater efficiency in shipping, as the road allows triple trailers, meaning one driver can haul three loads rather than three drivers hauling one each on other highways.

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber has been working with Old Dominion and its site selection team for several years, said business development manager Lauren Johnson during the public comment period of the meeting.

“This new location will allow for easier transportation of their triples on the Ohio Turnpike and allow for future and long-term growth in our market, including new jobs and new customers,” she said. “We’re certainly pleased to keep them in our market. This is an important project for Trumbull County and our region.”

Pictured: Site preparation is underway at the 15-acre site in Lordstown where Old Dominion Freight Line plans to build its new terminal.

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