Cleveland-Cliffs’ $195 million expansion receives full approval
BUTLER TWP — Cleveland-Cliffs is now cleared to make a $195 million investment into its Butler Works facility after months of delay.
The Butler Township Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 during a meeting Monday evening, April 20, to give final approval to the project that will expand the facility’s hot mill and includes several auxiliary buildings, such as electrical substations, to support it.
The board also granted a second motion for two stormwater waivers. Having the requirements waived will not impact any other property, the township engineer said.
Commissioner Ed Natali, who works for Cleveland-Cliffs, was absent from the meeting. Commissioner Joseph Wiest abstained from the motions.
The project was first presented to the township’s planning commission over four months ago. After some delays, the commission voted unanimously on April 7 to recommend the project for approval.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ project manager Ben Frisbee said during that meeting the expansion’s operational goal is July or August 2028. He said the expansion will likely add only a few technical jobs to the 1,300 or so employed there and will mainly serve to improve the quality of the steel produced.
The land development application was first reviewed and discussed during the December meeting. However, concerns quickly arose from the commission and township staff because the plan would push the facility’s edge 65 feet closer to Bessemer Avenue and the hillside it’s on.
Cliffs representatives previously said they had to place the furnaces in that specific location to keep the current mill process uninterrupted.
To address this, the plan includes a concrete-face retaining wall with 232 soil nails — reinforcements inserted into the hillside. An agreement between the township and company is yet to be finalized and is necessary for work to begin, but solicitor Rebecca Black said they are close to finalizing.
The project also required 49 feet of variance on the 50-foot setback usually required for industrial properties, which the township zoning hearing board previously approved.
Township zoning officer Jesse Hines said a lot of delay from the project came from the need for Cleveland-Cliffs to complete a property survey.
“Because they were so close to that right of way with a foot setback and because they’re putting in the retaining walls in the right of way and the infrastructure for that, we said ‘we need a survey’ and that took some time,” he said at the planning commission meeting.
The next Butler Township Board of Commissioners meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 4.
