Steel Drum Recycler Claims Conspiracy

Columbus Steel Drum officials have claimed in court documents filed earlier this month that their landlord lied to them and conspired with the city of Gahanna to destroy their business.

The allegations are part of the company's response to a January suit filed against it by property owner Franklin Steel Co., seeking to have the 55-gallon drum recycling business evicted from its Columbus, Ohio location.

The city has been working for more than a year to broker a deal that would result in the eviction of Columbus Steel Drum, also known as Columbus QCB Inc.

Early this year, Duke Realty Corp. officials announced they had an agreement with Franklin Steel president Sydney Blatt to buy and redevelop the 18-acre site. That purchase, however, was contingent on the city agreeing to commit up to $300,000 to assess and remediate contamination at the site.

In February, city council approved the expenditure and gave Mayor Becky Stinchcomb authority to enter into a development agreement with Duke.

The most recent court filing by attorneys for Columbus Steel Drum on March 17 characterizes those dealings between the city, Franklin Steel and others as a "conspiracy" that has damaged the ability of Columbus QCB to do business and violated the company's constitutional rights.

According to the Columbus QCB's counterclaim, "Franklin Steel and Sidney Blatt knowingly and maliciously conspired with representatives of state and local governments, who were acting under color of state law, to formulate and then implement a plan designed to ... evict (Columbus QCB) from the property and destroy its drum-container reconditioning business and eliminate 181 jobs, in violation of (Columbus QCB's) property rights as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Richard Fahey, an attorney for Franklin Steel and Sydney Blatt, said there were no surprises in Columbus Steel Drum's answer to his client's suit.

"You can posture all you want in your pleadings," Fahey said. "The real question is what evidence there is to back it up. It all comes back to what evidence is there and what basis is there for the court to render a judgment. That is what we will litigate."

The counterclaim also alleges that Columbus QCB was told by "representatives" of the city that the mayor "had created an 'interdiction task force' for the express purpose of destroying (Columbus QCB's) business."

"It strikes me as odd that they would name it an interdiction committee," Columbus Steel Drum attorney Terrence Fay said. "The word interdict, if I look it up in the dictionary, means to put a stop to things."

Fay also pointed out that his client had not been invited to participate in the interdiction team's meetings and was not aware that the team existed until after eviction proceedings were under way.

City zoning administrator Bonnie Gard, who coordinates meetings of the interdiction team, said the group has been meeting for three years. It was created by the city's development department under the leadership of director Sadicka White, she said.

Stinchcomb said she did not know how long the city has been working specifically with Blatt but that the interdiction team had been actively working before she took office in October 2001.

"The interdiction team is an inter-governmental group of agencies that deals with all kinds of problems," Stinchcomb said. "It wasn't just created for Columbus Steel Drum."

According to Gard, the team has dealt with environmental issues related to local residential properties and at least one business in the city's industrial zone.

Attendees at the team's meetings vary, depending on the property involved and issues being addressed, Gard said.

Stinchcomb said Columbus Steel Drum's claim of ignorance about the team doesn't hold much weight with her.

"I find it very hard to believe they were unaware of the violations and accusations against them," Stinchcomb said. "This team basically just discussed the violations. We are briefed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the (Franklin County Board of Health). They would have heard all this before we did. They knew we were unhappy with them."

Last year, the Ohio Attorney General's office filed suit against the company in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas' Environmental Division, alleging violation of EPA regulations and emission of noxious odors into the environment around its plant.

That case is expected to go to trial later this year. The case between Columbus Steel Drum and Franklin Steel is not expected to go to trial until early 2005.

Stinchcomb denies that Columbus Steel Drum has been unfairly targeted.

"My job is to make sure people follow the law and make sure they remain good neighbors, whether it's Columbus Steel Drum or somebody parking a semi in their front yard," Stinchcomb said. "If they work it out with their landlord and come into compliance with all the laws, I have no right to tell them to leave. My job is compliance and to make sure they don't affect the health and safety of others."

Stinchcomb, on several occasions, has publicly stated that Columbus Steel Drum's operations are no longer compatible with the city's goals.

"Ultimately, I would like to clean up the site and have a clean user that's compatible with the businesses around it, and bring in a user that would create as many jobs as lost by Columbus Steel Drum," Stinchcomb said this week. "If a business wants to remain in Gahanna, they need to be a good neighbor and a responsible property owner. It's really that simple."

Gahanna and other area residents have been complaining about noxious odors from the plant, which opened in 1971, for more than 20 years.

Columbus Steel Drum bought the plant in January 2001 and has invested more than $300,000 in equipment to eliminate those odors, court documents indicate.

Stinchcomb said she has dealt with the odors since moving to Gahanna in 1986.

"I don't think there's anything against QCB," Stinchcomb said. "It's just that enough is enough."  Columbus (Ohio) This Week