A site plan is under review for the proposed water-bottling plant expected to create 50 jobs and send some much-needed revenue into the village of Canajoharie.
California-based CG Roxane, which markets bottled water under the name Crystal Geyser, is proposing to build a 100,000 square-foot facility and, in a second phase, another of the same size on 30 acres off Old State and Murray Hill roads in the town of Ephratah.
Ephratah Town Planning Board member Dale Gray on Wednesday said the plan is under review and the board is awaiting additional details to add to the application.
Information submitted so far will be sent to state and local agencies and their input is expected in May.
According to a site-plan-review application submitted to the town of Ephratah, the company is proposing to operate the spring water bottling plant five days a week, 24-hours a day and, depending on demand, on Saturdays from May through August.
Additions on the site would include four new wells, a pump house and a gravel access driveway, and water would be piped from land Canajoharie land 2,100 feet along Old State Road to the plant.
One well on the site would be used for bathroom facilities and cleaning, and it would require a wastewater plant built to treat on-site wastewater to be discharged into a tributary of the Caroga Creek.
plan details
Operations would entail 25 truck shipments during the daytime in addition to employee and supplier traffic, which would be staggered throughout the day, but no night traffic is planned.
The facility will need a wastewater plant built to treat discharges into a tributary of the Caroga Creek.
The plans note efforts to minimize the impact from noise and vibration generated by trucks and a cooling tower fan; new trees and the topography of the land itself is expected to buffer those sounds.
Outdoor lighting would consist of five 20-foot high fixtures in addition to light fixtures on the building.
Peak production would see 400,000 gallons bottled in 16-ounce containers daily, with the product to be trucked throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley regions.
Several permits will be required for the facility on top of purchasing about 29 acres owned by the village of Canajoharie and about an acre situated within an agricultural district owned by Arthur Popp.
Permits and approvals needed include site-plan review from the town, a subdivision and highway work permit, a county Planning Board review, a state DOT Highway work permit, historic resources survey, a bottled water permit from the state Department of Health, a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, and permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, according to the application.
Depending on the status of permits, the site plan projects construction could begin this summer and continue through the spring of next year so the plant can operate in the summer of 2012, the second phase would be built in 2013.
Canajoharie Mayor Francis Avery on Wednesday declined to characterize the level of optimism he has the project will proceed. He said the relationship between the village and CG Roxane remains as it was when the company signed a letter of intent in January.
Officials then said the company might pay the village as much as $500,000 for the land the village owns surrounding the watershed where the village’s water is piped from.
Categories: Schenectady County
