Clarkson Construction will move forward with their office and equipment storage facility in Truesdale after the board of aldermen approved their zoning change request at their May 28 meeting. 

“We’re excited to be in the neighborhood,” said Clarkson Construction Vice President Robert Fry. 

The zoning change was the last major hurdle for the construction company, which has been working with city officials for the past several months to reach an agreement on an industrial planned development district for their facility. 

The company originally faced opposition from nearby residents as many were apprehensive about a construction company moving in and were not in favor of a proposed rock crushing facility that Clarkson wanted to include on the property. 

The removal of the rock crushing facility was one of several concessions Clarkson officials made in the agreement, along with several from the city. Many of those changes were handled with a recommendation from Truesdale’s Planning and Zoning Commission following a public hearing on May 21. There was a public hearing on the zoning change preceding the May 28 board meeting although there was no public comment. 

“I will comment that the planning and zoning meeting last Wednesday, I felt was very productive, and wound up in a very positive manner,” said Mayor Jerry Cannon. 

The concessions made by Clarkson will allow them to build their office facility and store heavy equipment and construction materials on the property. In return, Clarkson is taking measures to mitigate the impact of the facility on the Heritage Hills subdivision, which sits to the south and east of the property. 

The first of the stipulations is the fencing of the property, which Fry said would be chain link with cloth screening on the north, east and west sides of the property. 

On the south side, where it is closest to the subdivision, Clarkson will be constructing a dirt berm and planting trees atop it along with a wooden privacy fence to shield the facility from view of the subdivision and mitigate noise. 

Clarkson has also agreed to remove any temporary structures on the property within four years as they have several trailers they have been using as mobile offices while they begin work on the Improve I-70 project in Warren County. 

They are also required to mitigate the impact of any lighting on the facility, using shielding to direct lighting away from adjacent properties. 

Even though Fry had already pledged to remove the crushing operation, its prohibition is also clearly spelled out in the ordinance. 

“No material grinding, pulverizing or similar operations shall be conducted on-site,” reads the ordinance. 

They are also required to surface the lot with gravel or highway milling material as approved by City Engineer John Choinka. Fry has said he plans to use a mix of gravel and milling material from the I-70 project to surface the lot. 

Citizens and the P&Z commission did decide to remove a requirement for hours of operation at the May 21 meeting, since they felt it was an unnecessary burden on the business and their mitigation efforts were sufficient to limit the impact of any work. 

Fry said while they had previously planned to close on the property on May 30, they pushed that date back to June 10 in order to secure paperwork from the city certifying their agreement. 

Once that is taken care of, he said they plan to get to work quickly, starting on grading the site and constructing the berm by late June.