Planning Board approves Viscofan USA expansion with variances and conditions

The Bridgewater Planning Board voted to approve Viscofan USA’s request to construct a 16,920 square-foot addition to an existing manufacturing campus on Southside Avenue and to reconfigure parking and site utilities, subject to a set of conditions the board required during testimony.

Attorney John Sullivan opened the application and introduced the applicant’s witnesses. CEO Guillermo Díaz described the factory’s operations and production: "We continue performing this activity as the former owners have been doing... we manufacture artificial casings for the meat industry," Díaz said, adding the plant operates around the clock. He told the board the company currently employs about 130–132 people, typically up to about 67–80 employees present per shift, and that the proposed expansion would raise the maximum active employees only modestly to the low 140s.

The presentation included operational details the board pressed on: deliveries and truck traffic, employee parking, on-site wastewater pre-treatment, and waste disposal. Díaz estimated inbound tractor-trailer deliveries would rise from about 25 to 30 per month and outbound shipments from about 20 to 25 per month. He said roughly 90% of process byproducts go to beneficial reuse and that 10% currently is landfilled; the company is pursuing "zero waste" certification. On wastewater, the applicant described an on-site pH adjustment and existing permit constraints: the plant has an SRVSA discharge permit (maximum 390,000 gallons/day) and testified the proposed work will not exceed that permitted discharge.

Engineer Adolf Montana and architect Harry Osborne explained technical changes: a new 5,000-gallon grease interceptor and duplex pump station (to move process flow where grades require a force main rather than gravity), minor reconfiguration of parking (164 existing spaces reconfigured to 160), sidewalks, lighting, and an underground infiltration basin to meet stormwater quality criteria. Montana said the expansion adds nine tanks to bring the site to 15 total but that the facility will continue to drain only two tanks at a time so average flows remain consistent with the permit.

Board professionals raised outstanding items the applicant must satisfy: an environmental impact statement submission in resolution compliance; four additional ADA spaces to reach code minimums; clarification and agreement with the local sewer authority on the force-main/pump design and grease‑trap maintenance; fire-department access verification (existing driveway width is 21 feet; the fire official requested 26 feet and the applicant must coordinate with the fire chief); and landscaping requirements (applicant proposed 45 trees but asked to avoid foundation plantings near processing doors for pest-control reasons; the board accepted either alternate plantings or payment in lieu to reach the ordinance number).

Planner Brian McPeek testified the requested variances (preexisting nonconformities and a new accessory-building setback/size relief) could be supported under the municipal land-use law’s balancing tests, noting the site is a long-established industrial campus and the expansion would be tucked away from public right-of-way and buffered by existing vegetation. After conditions were committed to by the applicant and coordination tasks were added, a motion to grant preliminary and final major site-plan approval with variance relief passed on roll call.

The board’s approval included conditions to address: submission of a full environmental impact statement and operation/maintenance manuals; revised zoning tables and bulk calculations; verification with the sewer authority that discharges remain within permitted limits; compliance with the fire safety memo including access width or an agreed alternative; addition of required ADA spaces; and either on-site replacement plantings or a payment in lieu to the township tree fund. The board also recorded that EV requirements are not mandated for this amendment to an existing site but members suggested make-ready or voluntary EV measures could be considered later.