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Mittal proposes land swap with countyChicago Sun-TimesMay 5, 2005By Andrea HolecekCHICAGO -- Mittal Steel USA-Riverdale's plan to build a second continuous caster to give the mill its own hot metal supply is in the hands of the Cook Country Forest Preserve District board. For the $ 200 million expansion -- and its promise of 75 new high-paying jobs -- to proceed, Mittal needs to swap about 21 acres of Forest Preserve District land that are part of Whistler Woods in exchange for about 31 acres on the other side of the Calumet River. Mittal Steel acquired the plant when it purchased International Steel Group Inc. last month. ISG bought the mill for $ 65 million in 2002 during a bankruptcy court auction of Acme Metal Inc.'s steelmaking assets. A portion of the property Mittal wants to acquire is a long, narrow strip of land immediately north of the existing caster that was built for about $ 400 million in 1997, when the facility was owned by Acme. The other land is a triangular parcel between the mill's current facilities. It would be used as the site of two Electric Arc Furnaces the company wants to build to have its own supply of hot metal. The mill currently depends on molten iron from the company's other Indiana plants. Currently, the Riverdale facility produces about four-fifths of its annual capacity -- 800 tons -- because it can't get enough hot metal for full production, James Howell, manager of Mittal Steel USA-Riverdale, said Wednesday. The furnaces would give the plant the ability to use which ever type of hot metal is most economical. "We'd have a choice," he said. Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans called the land swap a "terrific deal" for her community. "Not only would the county gain more land than it would give up, it would gain prime riverfront property...." she said. "... If Mittal Steel USA moves ahead with the expansion, we are hopeful it would eventually lead to more jobs and more stability for its local plant that is so important to our community." Riverdale lost slightly more than $ 1 million in direct tax revenues and 70 percent of the village's utility taxes, 90 percent of the school budget and 60 percent of the park and recreation budget when Acme closed in 2001. If the mill is unable to expand, the mill could take the project and its production elsewhere, again threatening the community's tax base, said Cook County Assessor James Houlihan in a letter of support for the project he sent to County Board President John Stroger Jr., who was absent from Wednesday's meeting. But no matter how economically sound the project appears, the Forest Preserve District Board, which is comprised of the 17-member Cook County Board of Commissioners, has a long-standing policy against trading or selling is property. It had rebutted a similar land exchange proposed by Acme in the mid 1990s. Wednesday, on the motion and urging of Democratic County Board Commissioner Deborah Sims, and after a lengthy discussion and vote on its propriety, the board sent the matter to both the district's Real Estate, its Citizen's Advisory committees and its general superintendent for review. The district, which owns 68,000 acres of land in Cook County, recently adapted a Land Use Plan that calls for the district's general superintendent to review and prepare a report on any land transaction proposal. It also requires the Illinois Legislature to approve any land transactions. Republican [sic] 10th District Commissioner Mike Quigley was vehement in his contention that sending the matter to committee violates the plan. "I think you meant it when you passed the policy," Quigley said. "I don't think you want to violate it coming out of the box." For more than half a century, the district has rebutted proposals to swap or sell its land, even from the U.S. War Department as well as from school districts, veterans organizations, communities and business, he said. The one time it agreed was on the request from Rosemont in 1999 so it could build a parking garage for its proposed casino. "You know how that turned out," said Quigley. Sims said she wanted the two committees to study the land swap so "it wouldn't be a flawed process." "That'll let everyone have a look at it," the 5th District County Commissioner said. No time table for the committees' review or superintendent's report was established.
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