By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Sayler Park residents in a two-year fight to stop a cement distribution facility along the Ohio River got their first win in federal court Monday.

U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not adequately take into account the historic nature of Sayler Park, and ordered the corps to revoke the permit for Lone Star Industries.

The ruling was a victory for the Sayler Park Village Council, which had argued that the corps did not follow the National Historic Preservation Act in issuing a permit for barges to load and unload at the site.

The city of Cincinnati and state Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Cincinnati, also joined in the suit.

Tim Burke, the village council's lawyer, argued that because several homes in Sayler Park are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, the corps needed to weigh the negative effects of the cement facility on those historic resources.

But Col. Robert A. Rowlette, the engineer for the Louisville district, determined that none of those properties would be affected by the facility.

The Ohio and Kentucky state historic preservation offices objected to that finding. The corps, upholding its previous finding, closed the consultation process and issued the permit in November.

In doing so, the corps violated federal regulations requiring it to consult with interested parties, Judge Dlott ruled.

The decision may be only a temporary victory, Mr. Burke said. The corps could still issue a new permit after consulting with the parties.

Lone Star bought the former Home City Ice property for $1.4 million in 2000, hoping to transfer powdered cement from barges to trucks and railroad cars.

Residents say noise and dust from the cement facility will lower property values, and the 115-foot storage silos will block views of the river.

E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com