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July 9, 2009

Graymont concrete plant gets approval to move

APA approves move of concrete plant to industrial park

By KIM SMITH DEDAM

TUPPER LAKE — Adirondack Park Agency commissioners approved an application to move Graymont Materials concrete plant out of the village.

The busy mixing silo and truck traffic has occupied a narrow, half-acre plot on Pleasant Avenue since the 1940s.

The company's batch plant will relocate to a five-acre site in the Town of Tupper Lake that's already fitted with a road, water and electricity.

The new location has room for additional material stockpiles, parking, an office and a 39-foot silo, which is about 15 feet lower than the current plant fixture.

FIRST IN PARK
Graymont will become the first occupant of the industrial park, built in 1999 as the Altamont Wood Products Business Park.

The industrial park encompasses a total 135 acres of mostly Low and Moderate Intensity land-use areas. It is owned and managed by Franklin County Industrial Development Agency.

In the last 10 years, IDA has spent $1.4 million bringing infrastructure, including town water and sewer, to the park, said APA staff planner Steve Erman.

"IDA sees itself selling lots off and disengaging," he said.

CONCERNS
The most important environmental concerns involved building setbacks from town roads and the amount of ground to be paved.

Both APA and Tupper Lake zoning set a 50-percent ground-coverage maximum.

But none of the plans to relocate Graymont's plant proved nonconforming to Adirondack Park regulations.

APA commissioners questioned a proposed change in Business Park covenant, asking what precedent it might set for future occupants.

Originally, the Altamont Wood Products Park was set aside for wood-related business and manufacturing and specified "no asphalt and concrete batch plants."

The change, Erman said, looks forward.

"They finally got development under way, and they're trying to reshape it."

APA Chief Counsel John Banta said all future development in the Business Park is subject to APA review for "no undue impact."

APA Commissioner Leilani Ulrich asked if the 39-foot limit on the processing silo would hinder the operation in any way.

APA staff planner Colleen Parker said the new plant will use a different type of hopper.

"If for some reason they do need to go higher, they could," she said.

NEIGHBORS
The nearest neighbor to the new Graymont Materials batch plant is Tupper Hardwoods Mill, about 650 feet south.

The nearest residential property is a quarter-mile away.

It's a much different scenario than the one in Tupper Lake now.

"People living closest to the existing site would like to see it moved out of the village," Parker told commissioners.

Truck traffic and noise from concrete processing have been challenging to an otherwise residential neighborhood.

Parker said Graymont has endured "substantial pressure" to move.

As for the half-acre vacant lot left once the batch plant moves, Parker said, several neighbors have approached the company about buying it.

The land might also be conveyed to Tupper Lake as green space.

SUMMER START
Nate Dutil, an engineer with Graymont based in Plattsburgh said — pending approval by the full APA Board today — Graymont would start site work in the Business Park this summer.

"We would potentially move later this fall when we shut the plant down at the end of the year or before we start up next spring."

Ulrich admired Graymont's business acumen.

"During these economic times, that they're taking this on, I think it's to be commended."

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com

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