HOWELL – A proposal was heard for a warehouse for plastic bottle and container manufacturing on Fairfield Road, but the hearing will be continued on Monday, July 13.
The testimony before the Zoning Board ran until 10 p.m. at a recent meeting, then the board tabled the application – meaning that no decision was made.
Zoning Board Chairman Richard Mertens said that the expiration date remains at Thursday, September 24.
Mertens said shortly before adjournment, “This case is very important to a lot of people and I do want to respect and make sure we have as much time as we need to make sure all of our questions are asked.”
“I know we’ve covered a lot tonight already, but I think it’s more beneficial that we come back fresh and get everything so the public would be able to get their questions in and you can finish up,” he said.
The plastic bottles and containers company Flexcraft seeks to have their headquarters and main facility in Howell, according to Co-President and CFO of the company Russ Smith, who was present to testify. Smith was accompanied by attorney Salvatore Alfieri, partner with Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri, and Jacobs LLC.
The application seeks to change the previously approved warehouse to a manufacturer of plastic bottles and containers and increase the space from 10,000 to 12,000 square feet and add silos in an area previously approved for loading docks at addresses 413, 408, and 413 and vacant land on Fairfield Road, according to the agenda.
Smith added that the Howell site is where, “everyone is going to be working.”
Flexcraft currently has a manufacturing facility in Neptune City, an offsite warehouse in Tinton Falls, and a manufacturing facility and warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the company’s website.
When board member Glenn Kantor asked, “What attracted you to this site?” Smith answered, “It’s very close to our current facility.” The company employs approximately 140 people, according to Smith.
Smith explained that small plastic pellets, called resin, get delivered to their site.
He said, “They get delivered to our site in bulk trucks and then stored in the outdoor silos that you see on the site plan. It’s a very clean, safe way to store those materials.”
The material is conveyed from those silos directly into the building and into their machines that melt the plastic and form these pellets in various different bottles, containers, and closures, which are essentially caps, according to Smith.
He added that any scrap materials that are generated from the process are reused in the production line.
Smith said, “There’s no detectable odor associated with our facility, which might come to a surprise to people. We can say that firsthand, though, because our current facility is surrounded by residential [properties].”
He added, “We’ve been there since 2015 and we have never had an odor complaint.”
The plan will include 86 parking stalls on site, to which Smith added, “That’s significantly more than we need.”
Smith added, “We are actively working to join something called Operation Clean Sweep.”
“Operation Clean Sweep is an industry initiative that has tons of training, self-reporting, and different rules and regulations that you have to abide by in order to get to zero pellet loss.”
The plan was originally scheduled for June 8. However, the Zoning Board did not hear the case then because Alfieri requested to the board via email that the case be rescheduled to Monday, June 22, as there was a problem with their notice requirements.
Members Michael Ryan and Jose Orozco were absent and excused.
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