Board allows four new storage tanks at Voyant Beauty after extensive neighborhood concerns

The Elkhart City Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously April 11 to grant a special exception permitting Voyant Beauty (NMVYT LLC) to add four storage tanks at its Superior Street manufacturing and packaging facility (petition 24X03).

Voyant’s civil engineer, Brian McMorrow of V3 Companies, told the board the company plans a roughly 60,000-square-foot addition between the existing building and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks. The application identifies four new tanks — two 10,000-gallon tanks and two 5,000-gallon tanks — added to an existing inventory of storage tanks the company supplied to city staff. McMorrow said no new chemicals are proposed; the expansion is intended to increase capacity for products already made on site.

Eric Collins, a Voyant employee, told the board the expansion could create about 10 additional hires per shift (approximately 30 employees across shifts). He said most of the material stored is water and alcohol blends used to manufacture aerosolized room sprays; the facility uses a nitrogen-based propellant for can charging.

Neighborhood speakers voiced repeated concerns about the proposal’s proximity to schools, daycare centers, ballfields and residences and cited a long local history of community sensitivity to bulk storage at the site. Speakers described past incidents and water contamination tied to prior industrial operations nearby and asked whether compressed LPG or other flammable gases would be stored. Several speakers said they did not receive mailed notice or that notifications did not include maps. Riverview Association President Dale McDowell and a string of residents requested the board deny the request or impose strict safeguards.

Voyant and its engineer responded that the new tanks would be located inside the building, embedded in a six-foot retention pit to contain spills, and equipped with vapor-detection alarms that shut off chemical supply if vapors are detected. Voyant representatives said the company has an emergency-response plan and that existing tanks have long operated on the site; company representatives also committed to provide further details on emergency procedures to engineering staff.

City staff reported that construction plans were submitted for technical review for the building addition and recommended approval of the special exception. The staff report said plans indicate the tanks will be built to code, placed inside the building, and have floor drains tied into the sanitary sewer monitoring system. Staff also noted that the Plan Commission issued a favorable recommendation and that 56 notice letters were mailed (one returned not in favor, three telephone calls not in favor) and an additional email expressing concerns was received the day of the hearing.

During deliberations a board member disclosed a potential conflict of interest (a pending unrelated workers’ compensation matter involving Voyant) but said there was no objection from other participants and did not recuse himself. After a motion to approve the petition “adopt[ing] the petitioner’s documents and presentation together with the staff’s findings of facts,” the board voted: Davis — Yes; Roger Rykov — Yes; Mulvaney — Yes. The motion passed unanimously.

Staff and Voyant representatives noted the expansion and tank installations remain subject to code-required design, building-permit, and technical-review approvals; any change to the scope of storage or the introduction of different chemicals would require further review and board action if beyond the approved description.