After months of testimony, it took Conoy Township supervisors less than 15 minutes Thursday evening to decide the future of ethanol in Lancaster County.

Despite staunch opposition from some segments of the community, supervisors approved the conditional-use application by Lancaster Biofuels for a $100 million corn-to-ethanol production facility on the banks of the Susquehanna River by a nail-biting 3-2 vote.

The decision is "a win for Conoy Township and Lancaster County," Lancaster Biofuels president Seth Obetz said shortly after the decision. "But we still have a lot more work to do."

Supervisors attached a hefty list of 77 conditions to their approval of the project.

Obetz said he will have to look over them to make sure they're all acceptable, but noted Lancaster Biofuels had submitted a list of more than 60 conditions it was willing to impose on its own operations.

Judy Nissley, co-owner of Nissley Vineyards and an outspoken foe of the ethanol plant, said she came into Thursday's meetings with "no expectations."

"But I'm convinced that they did not supply the information called for in the ordinance," she said. "It saddens me, because it looks as though the supervisors' heads were turned" by the money the plant will bring to the township.

According to the board's conditions, the township will receive the following annual payments in lieu of taxes from the company: $5 per 1,000 gallons for the first 35 million gallons produced; $10 per 1,000 gallons for the next 15 million gallons; and $15 per 1,000 gallons for anything over 50 million gallons.

The dry-mill fuel production facility is designed to produce up to 60 million gallons of ethanol, a gasoline additive, each year.

But Lancaster Biofuels can change its process or materials without any additional approvals from the township, Nissley said.

"And it looks very obvious to me that corn ethanol is on its way out. It's becoming less popular every day."

Testimony began Sept. 17 in the first of 10 public sessions. Oral testimony was closed at the final meeting on Jan. 23.

Township solicitor Matthew Creme said supervisors closed written testimony on the hearing process on Feb. 22. The board held executive sessions on Feb. 14 and 18 "for legal counsel on the decision-making process and procedure," then held additional executive sessions on Feb. 27 and March 3 for "quasi-judicial deliberations on the application."

He prepared a draft decision based on the consensus of the board at those meetings, Creme said.

"The only thing remaining is for the board to act and render its decision."

Board chairman Stephen Mohr asked for a motion, and supervisor John Shearer quickly moved that the conditional-use application be granted.

"It was a real struggle," said Shearer, who joined the board in January, after the conclusion of former supervisor Earl Furhman's term in office.

"I agree that ethanol is not … the long-term answer to the dependence on foreign oil," he said. "I think we all agree on that. Unfortunately, that's not my purpose here on this board."

Lancaster Biofuels met the requirements of the application, Shearer said, and he believes approval of the company's application is in the "best interests of the citizens of Conoy Township and surrounding communities."

Supervisors will allow "absolutely no shortcuts" on the conditions, he added.

The crowd of more than 100 people packed into Bainbridge Fire Hall met Shearer's announcement with silence. However, loud applause followed supervisor Gina Mariana's comments.

"I too don't agree with ethanol. I believe it's a Band-Aid solution," she said.

"I also don't believe the environmental impacts were adequately addressed, and I believe it will have an adverse effect on our community."

Mariana voted against the application.

Supervisor Clyde Pickel said he is "concerned with the air emissions … which could contribute to global warming. A lot of people don't think that's a reality, but within the next 20 years, it will be." He also said he is worried about Lancaster Biofuels' plan to tap 946,000 gallons of water per day from the river and return 216,000 gallons each day at an elevated temperature of 90 or more degrees.

"I am voting 'no' for the proposed ethanol plant," he said, also earning the audience's applause.

Supervisor Robert Strickland tied the vote by coming down in favor of the plant.

"The issues have sometimes been contentious, and the debate has been intense," he said. "But I believe the economy of this township will be improved."

The list of 77 conditions "are there, each one of them, to protect the township," he added. "They will hold the applicant to a standard that will guide their performance and ensure the operation is a benefit to this area."

That left the decision in the hands of Mohr, who said the board "is not deciding whether ethanol is good or bad, only if the application meets the requirements of this township."

Mohr cast the final vote to approve the application, ending nearly six months of hearings.

Along with the conditional-use approval, supervisors granted Lancaster Biofuels 18 months to obtain all necessary permits and approvals and an additional 42 months to complete construction.

The plant will be built on 65 acres between the river and Route 441, adjacent to the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority.

Obetz said after the meeting that he hopes the facility will be up and running by 2010 or 2011, depending on how quickly remaining issues are resolved. If all goes well, he said, they could break ground by this time next year, and the facility will take about 18 months to build.

It will take only a few weeks from the start of production until Conoy-made ethanol is available at the pumps, Obetz said.

The plant will be "comparable in size to the Jack Daniels distillery," he said — and noted that, apart from the denaturing process that makes ethanol unpalatable, the distillation of whiskey is very similar to the manufacture of ethanol.

The opposition Lancaster Biofuels faced along the way "was completely understandable," Obetz said. He said he hopes a citizens advisory group to be formed in the near future will help smooth over any remaining hard feelings in the community.

"Ethanol is not an easy business," he said, "but I've never been in one that is."

E-mail: tknapp@lnpnews.com