WARREN — A decision by Clean Energy Future Lordstown to file an appeal in the 11th District Court of Appeals asking for the real estate matters be settled in arbitration, instead of going through a jury trial, could once again delay the second energy plant project.

The appeals court filing was done Monday.

As a result, Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Kontos on Friday asked representatives of Clean Energy Future Lordstown and Clean Energy Future LLC to return to court to determine if previously failed mediation can be restarted.

More than a dozen community leaders from Lordstown, Warren and members of the Ohio House and Senate were in court Friday hoping a settlement would be reached between the two energy companies.

At stake is the future of a second $900 million energy plant that would be built in Lordstown.

Clean Energy Future LLC President Bill Siderewicz said he had hoped that Friday’s hearing would have brought the issues closer to being completed, so the actual building of the second energy plant, Trumbull Energy Center, could have begun either in December or January.

“If all of the issues are settled in the next month to month-and-a-half, we can begin the actual construction,” he said.

Siderewicz said the five to six issues that must be addressed are all related to the 2016 land option agreement.

“They are certainly not insurmountable and if there are two willing parties, then a solution is achieveable in a day,” he said. “Everyone is coming back to Warren in mid-September to give it a go.”

In addition to getting the principal owners of Clean Energy Future Lordstown to sign documents that will allow Clean Energy Future LLC to purchase land where they expect to build the Trumbull Energy Center plant, Siderewicz said they must settle on the cost of the delay of the construction.

“This already has cost a nine-month delay of this project,” Siderewicz said.

The $900 million Lordstown Energy Center opened earlier this month, and slowly has been ramping up production of energy by doing some test runs.

Siderewicz said the second plant, known as the Trumbull Energy Center, can be completed by 2021 if these court issues are completed relatively soon.

“It takes about 34 months to build,” he said.

He noted on Friday that about 80 percent of the financing has been secured and permitting has been done for the plant.

rsmith@tribtoday.com