LORAIN, Ohio — The future of a former factory property has been the source of debate in a Lorain neighborhood. The current owner hopes to use the former American Crucible site as a truck livery for vehicle storage and parking. But some neighbors are raising concerns that the project could lead to health and security risks.
For the fifty years Catherine Potter has lived in her Central Lorain neighborhood, she said she’s seen eras come and go.
"The factory behind us was real neat and clean. There used to be a dry cleaners back here also,” she said.
After nearly a century, the American Crucible factory shut down its operations near Oberlin Avenue and W 13th Street. Several years later, in March of 2022, a large fire destroyed most of what was left of the vacant property.
Since then, the property has been sold, and the new owners have been gradually cleaning it up. But Potter said she’s worried what’s planned next will not be an improvement.
"I’d rather see the building burned down and weeds growing back here, instead of seeing these semi trucks and what he wants to do with this property right now,” she said.
A zoning application details the plans for the 5-acre industrial site. The owner is requesting a variance from a rule requiring commercial trucks to be parked more than 200 feet from residential properties.
The proposed truck livery would allow drivers to park and store their industrial and commercial vehicles overnight.
Ward 2 Lorain City Council member Victoria Kempton said she’s received concerns from several neighbors with properties near the former American Crucible site.
"They don’t want to listen to, smell or be around the trucks. We have truck drivers that live on this street that say it’s a bad idea,” Kempton said.
She said some neighbors have already had issues with noise and exhaust from idling vehicles, barking dogs and trucks parked too close to property lines. Kempton said some also wonder if a truck livery may invite drivers to stay overnight in their vehicles and whether the business could become a target for crime.
"I’m worried that it becomes a pseudo, unmandated hotel,” Kempton said.
While some neighbors believe a truck livery is not the best use for the property, the owner contends it would be an upgrade from its former state.
"The whole property was filled from one corner to the other corner, side to side, filled up with debris, metal. [It was] very dangerous,” said Jose Laboy.
Laboy and his business partner purchased the property several months after the 2022 fire. He said he’s been cleaning up the debris and hazards almost entirely on his own since that time.
He said, unlike several other nearby blighted properties, he’s making an effort to improve the neighborhood.
"They don’t have the problem with us that they have with the Stoveworks or St. Joseph Hospital. We’re here. We’re cleaning,” he said.
The owner said his original plan was to create a place to legally park his own semi trucks. With the mounting costs of cleanup, he hopes to also rent out parking and storage space to other local truck operators.
Laboy said his request for a variance to park within 200 feet of homes would be a temporary solution until cleanup is complete.
"What we want to do is park the trucks here in the front… which we’re way off 200 feet from the line. But until we’re able to prepare this and get this ready, we’d like to be able to park in the parking lot,” he said.
He told News 5 he’s already implemented new security measures, including new lighting, surveillance cameras and a pair of German shepherds meant to deter would-be thieves from stripping metal parts from a small substation on the property.
He said he doesn’t intend for the site to become a bustling truck stop. But he does hope he can restore it to a usable state.
"I can understand they want their quiet, but in all reality, this is an industrial property.”
Some neighbors said they’re not opposed to industry, but they don’t think the current proposal is suitable for the neighborhood.
"We don’t want to stop him from having a business, but this is just not the right business,” said Potter.
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
