Mar 13, 2015 2 min read

MarkWest will no longer be pursuing its request to have its Robinson Township property rezoned as industrial land, according to Robinson officials.

Township manager Erin Sakalik said MarkWest spokesman Robert McHale attended Monday’s board meeting and said the company would no longer be asking officials to consider rezoning the 252.3 acres it owns between Route 980 and Quicksilver Road.

MarkWest expressed an interest in building a natural gas compressor station on that land, which currently straddles commercial and interchange business development districts. Compressor stations are a permitted use in that area, but the company was concerned that circumstances would change if a challenge to the township’s zoning ordinance, lodged by three Robinson families, was successful. That challenge was dismissed by the zoning hearing board, and the parties involved have appealed it to Washington County Court.

“We are currently evaluating our options in Robinson Township,” McHale said Friday.

“They made it clear they’re no longer in pursuit of it,” board Chairman Rodger Kendall said of MarkWest’s request for rezoning. He added the land is a permitted use and “they have the right to build” there.

MarkWest has not formally withdrawn its application for rezoning, Sakalik said.

“Their plans include building one compressor station in an area that is a permitted use,” Sakalik said in an email. “MarkWest has adamantly denied the rumors that their intent is to build a processing plant in Robinson Township; they said that it will not happen.”