Rapho Township's approval of a $93 million beet ethanol plant in August has prompted two court appeals, including one by the plant's owner.
Four business owners adjacent to the 34-acre industrially zoned plant site on the edge of Mount Joy Borough are asking a Lancaster County Court judge to throw out the township supervisors' approval.
And plant owner Maibach LLC, owned by East Hempfield Township residents Paul and Heidi Wheaton, is challenging one of 98 conditions that went along with plant approval: the one that would require an estimated $200,000 to be paid to the township yearly for emergency response services and water system upgrades.
The appeal by the four business owners claims that concerns over traffic, safety and lack of details regarding the distilling process could cause "a substantial adverse impact" on their properties as well as the surrounding community.
They accuse the supervisors of being biased toward plant owners and for failing to require them to produce evidence that the community would not be harmed.
The decision to approve the plant was "arbitrary, capricious, an error of law and was not supported by substantial evidence," according to the court appeal.
The business owners say the supervisors should never have handled the project to begin with. Rather, they say in the appeal, it should have come before the zoning hearing board.
The appeal was filed by real estate developer Emanuel "Manny" Murry, who owns vacant land next to the proposed plant site; Kroesen Tool Co., a design construction and metal stamping business; Fairway Building Products, which makes vinyl and composite home-building materials; and Lancaster Level-Flo Inc., manufacturer of metal dome roofs and silo equipment.
Jill Nagy, a Reading attorney representing the businesses, did not return phone calls for a comment.
Dale Adams, owner of Fairway Building Products, said he personally has no objections to an ethanol plant being next to him.
"We just want to make sure it's safe. I think what we're hoping to do is get to all these concerns and put them to bed so that when they do build this, it's safe and not a decrease in property values — not just for us, but for other people around here."
Maibach, which wants to build the first-of-its-kind ethanol facility, calls its court challenge a "limited appeal."
In a surprise move the night of the vote on the conditional-use application, Rapho supervisors doubled the amount of money the company would have to pay annually for adequate emergency response services and to improve the township's water system.
That fee, a half cent collected for each gallon of ethanol produced, would amount to a $200,000 annual fee to the township.
Not only is such a fee "unreasonable," Maibach contends, it amounts to an illegal tax to raise money for the township's general fund and for improvements to roads and transportation beyond the actual plant site.
Both are prohibited by Pennsylvania's Municipalities Planning Code, the appeal argues, unless the township has an impact fee ordinance, which it does not.
A quarter-cent fee per gallon of ethanol had previously been agreed to by the township and Fire Department of Mount Joy, according to Dwight Yoder, the Lancaster attorney for Maibach.
The appeal seeks to overturn only that condition, not the other 97, Yoder said.
"Maibach has, and continues to work with the township. I think this is a win-win project for everybody. It could be a shining star for Lancaster County.
"There was a real effort here to reach out to all the interested parties to make sure things were adequately done in a way that everyone was comfortable with."
The appeals are before Judge James P. Cullen. Briefs by all the parties have yet to be filed.
Bernadette Hohenadel, a Lancaster attorney hired by Rapho Township to represent its staff in the proceedings, said she had no comment on the cases.
Maibach has not yet filed subdivision and land development plans with the township, the next approval it needs for the project.