Right complaint, wrong venue

Citizens raise concerns about Jaewon construction during unrelated rezoning

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Economic growth is welcome in every community. New jobs. New investment. One major investment often leads to several smaller ones, and the hope is that everyone benefits. But growth must take place responsibly.

A small group of concerned citizens has spent the past month trying to ensure that the many investments surrounding the StarPlus electric vehicle battery plants are conducted responsibly. Unfortunately, they can’t seem to find the right venue to express those concerns. At least, the Kokomo Common Council claims it isn’t the place to go.

Over its past two meetings, the council heard and voted on a rezoning for property adjoining a development from Jaewon Industries, a South Korean company that will recycle chemicals used in the manufacture of batteries by StarPlus. But the measure was met with concerns from the public.

Realtor Paul Wyman approached the council in early January on behalf of the company, requesting the rezoning which would designate 5.75 acres of land near the current Jaewon facility construction for heavy industrial use.

“This property is not intended to be used anytime in the near future,” said Wyman. “However, there will be some potential expansion opportunities down the road, especially with the announcement of the second battery plant in Kokomo.

“Jaewon obviously has an opportunity to provide support to battery plants here in the state of Indiana, including the one we have now, and potentially another. So, they're just looking at having that additional acreage in case of that expansion opportunity. And, certainly, we would love the opportunity for them to expand in our community, as opposed to having to look elsewhere to continue to support battery plant operations.”

The citizens in attendance at the meeting didn’t oppose the rezoning as such, but they did have concerns about the chemicals that may be used at the nearby facility under construction and what measures are being taken to protect Howard County’s water supply. Ann Ihms, who operates an EPA-certified water quality testing lab in Kokomo, asked about Jaewon’s permitting.

“I'm trying to understand things when I see some things that don't quite make sense,” said Ihms. “So, (the EPA) still do not have anything from Jaewon. Nothing's on record yet through IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management).”

Ihms explained that she and a group of water quality professionals intend to hold a public forum in late February to discuss Howard County’s groundwater contamination points throughout the community, and they want to prevent further contamination. To that end, they asked the council to address the situation and add requirements for wastewater monitoring on the new facilities.

“We just want to make sure it's not getting into our stream of wastewater that's going down the river,” said Ihms.

Another citizen, Donna Meyer of Greentown, brought allegations of sub-standard electrical work being performed at the adjoining Jaewon construction site. Meyer said she was shown photographs of the sub-standard work and contacted the City of Kokomo’s Inspection Services department. Concerned about the potential of a tragic accident that could destroy property and lives, she asked the council to take action.

A third resident, Joe Russo, echoed the concerns and also asked the council to get involved.

“You guys have the responsibility to make sure that any of these developments that we're bringing in meet the codes that are set forth by the city and county,” said Russo “All we're asking you guys to do is to take the requisite time necessary to take a look at these issues that are being brought to your attention.

“We're here to protect the community as well. We don't want to see anything bad happen to the water. We don't want to see anything bad happen to those who can be working in those facilities.”

Despite being presented with this information, council president Ray Collins pushed the measure forward. He explained that rezoning the nearby property isn’t the vehicle for these complaints.

“I love for people to come and be involved these meetings,” said Collins. “But you're presenting stuff to us that is out of our scope.”

Collins said that as long as the project meets the requirements for rezoning, the council should approve it.

“I just don't know I have the answer for you,” said Collins. “I appreciate your concerns, but I do believe that we have a motion and a second for passing approval on first reading.”

The council passed the rezoning unanimously. But after the vote, council member Tom Miklik attempted to reassure those in attendance that their words weren't wasted.

“You're very lucky because we have the mayor here tonight, and he heard all of it,” said Miklik. “It has not fallen on deaf ears. It is outside the purview of what we did, but I would expect that the mayor and some of our council, maybe the president, take it upon ourselves to talk to those permitting people that do the inspections, so that they could at least be aware of what you have brought to the table, because I think there is probably some legitimacy to it.”

When the council reconvened on Jan. 27, the rezoning came before them for final approval, and the remonstrating citizens returned for a final plea. Before that, council member Greg Davis asked to speak to those in attendance.

“I applaud you for coming out and pursuing your belief in what you're doing,” said Davis. “Our job here tonight is the rezoning of the land. Period. But what I want you to know is that when we ended the council meeting the last time, several of us, including me, even though it's not in our purview, decided to look into this thing.

“We saw pictures, and we talked to different people. I talked to Jason Alexander, who's the building inspector for the city. I talked to our state representative. We talked to people to see what was being done, and we found out it is being done. We took that extra step, and I've been assured -- I talked to the inspector myself -- they've gone back and looked at those things, and those things have been taken care of. They've been fixed.”

Despite assurances, the remonstrators continued their opposition, asking that the council delay approval six months to ensure the development is done properly. Donna Meyer returned to the meeting, alleging that an electrical shortage took place at the Jaewon construction site on January 20, resulting in an ambulance call.

“That's showing they are not competent in what they're doing,” said Meyer. “At Jaewon, there are no service disconnects for motors. The code states that service disconnects are to be within sight. Would you feel safe in a building with substandard electric?

“There are zero working toilets out there; zero working hand wash and eye wash stations. The building has five pounds of water pressure; not enough to flush a toilet. None of these conditions meet temporary building occupancy standards.”

Ihms also got up to provide further testimony, but her words were blunted as council attorney Corbin King was seen laughing during her comments.

“It's not funny, sir, it's very serious,” said Ihms.

Collins broke off further comment, citing time constraints, and council member Matt Grecu repeated that the rezoning under consideration is not related to construction concerns at the Jaewon facility under construction.

The council voted again, unanimously, for the rezoning. As for the construction and water quality concerns? They must be addressed somewhere other than with the Kokomo Common Council.