By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE – An application from the operator of a concrete plant in Millstone Township requesting modifications to the site has been approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
On Nov. 30, board members granted construction material supplier Silvi Group Companies approval to expand a maintenance garage, replace a diesel fuel system with a natural gas fuel system and improve the employee parking.
The concrete plant is on the westbound side of and has access from Route 33, and it can also be accessed from Iron Ore Road.
Representatives of Silvi appeared before the zoning board to request approval for the modifications to the facility. Attorney Ken Pape presented the application.
Pape and the company’s representatives emphasized that the application would not make any expansions to the concrete plant itself.
“There is no change in the operations, no change in the production, no change in the capacity for production, there are no new employees, there are no new trucks,” Pape said.
According to Pape, the existing garage is inadequate for the maintenance of vehicles and equipment that are on site, which results in vehicles being serviced outside of the building.
Planner Allison Coffin, testifying on behalf of Silvi, said that moving outdoor repair activities into an indoor facility would have aesthetic benefits.
The garage is 4,000 square feet in size and the requested expansion would add 3,200 square feet to the structure, for a total of 7,200 square feet, according to architect Steve Radosti.
According to Sean Earlen, Silvi’s vice president of real estate, environmental and public affairs, the company sought to replace the plant’s diesel fuel system with natural gas for its trucks because there are cost and environmental benefits to using natural gas.
“Natural gas is less expensive and it is part of Silvi’s initiative to go green,” Earlen said.
Coffin supported Earlen’s testimony and his assertion that switching to natural gas would be beneficial to the environment.
“(There will be) an improved environmental impact from allowing for the fleet (of trucks) to be served by a more environmentally sound and safer fuel source, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use,” Coffin said.
The employee parking lot, according to engineer Peter Strong, is dirt and stone and Silvi was seeking permission to pave the lot and to possibly add curbing.
As she did regarding the expansion of the maintenance garage, Coffin testified that paving the lot would have aesthetic benefits.
After Silvi’s representatives provided testimony, members of the zoning board spoke positively of the application.
“I agree with the planner that there are significant benefits to the proposal,” Chairman Michael Novellino said. “In regard to the aesthetics, I definitely think the improved landscaping (will result in) a nicer looking building in conformance with our architectural standards. I think moving activities that are currently done outside in terms of maintenance into the building will improve the aesthetics.
“From an environmental standpoint, I have been to major cities where they now use natural gas buses instead of diesel buses and it makes a big difference in my opinion,” Novellino said. “There is a big environmental benefit to using natural gas to power trucks that are diesel today. I really do not see any downsides to the (application).”
Novellino, Vice Chairman Steve Barthelmes and board members Steve Morelli, Steve Lambros, Robert Bailey, Anthony Conoscenti, Barry Frost and Patrick Mostyn voted in favor of the application under conditions set forth in the resolution of approval.
