None of this is certain because the company, still unidentified, hasn’t made a firm decision on where to locate and is examining other sites in the area, said City Manager Jon Crusey.
Crusey said an incentive package, which could include state funding, is being worked out between the company, Jobs Ohio and the Dayton Development Coalition. There’s no firm date for the company to make a decision, he added.
For now, Crusey said, he knows only a few details about the project dubbed “Capstone” by the coalition.
The company is in the plastics industry and would build a new facility in two phases on 52 acres. The first phase would be a 200,000 square-foot plant that would employ 100. The second phase would add a 200,000 square-foot plant with another 100 employees.
The first phase would bring 30 rail cars into the park per month, and the second phase an additional 15. CSX also owns the industrial-zoned land the company could build on.
It’s the rail activity and the size of the plant that concerns the 20 residents who attended the meeting.
Crusey said the city has no power to stop the development or reactivation of the rail line. But Vandalia is negotiating with CSX about potential distances that development in the park could be from the property line. The city wants a 200-foot setback for new construction as well as an eight-foot mound or fencing to provide screening from a new plant.
“We’d like to work out something with the developer on the entire lot,” Crusey said.
Jack Froschauer, 64, lives a tenth of a mile from the rail line. He and his neighbors are worried rail activity would disrupt the rural nature of the area. He’d like a more distant setback.
“I’m hoping we can get a little more,” he said.
Ron Zeigler of Butler Twp. is concerned the rail line eventually will be extended west to serve the airport, closer to where he lives.
“That’s the fear of all the residents,” he said.
Crusey said that even if a new plastics plant doesn’t locate in the park, there are other businesses interested in the location since CSX dropped the price per acre from $70,000 to $40,000. Since the price drop, four or five businesses have expressed interest, he said.
Companies in the business park now include ASPM, or All Service Plastic Molding, with 400 employees; a FedEx Ground facility; and Inteva, an engineering company that was once part of Delphi.
About the Author