ZONING BOARD Oh, joy! Ice cream cone maker finally gets OK to expand plant

The project is expected to create 100 jobs.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- It's taken an additional three months and a city zoning regulation change, but Joy Cone Co. has finally gotten approval for the expansion it wants at its Lamor Road plant.
The Hermitage Zoning Board of Appeals granted permission Monday for the company to put a 66,508-square-foot addition on the north end of its ice cream cone plant.
That action follows a zoning hearing board approval of a 104,191-square-foot addition for the plant in July.
The company now operates in 208,382 square feet of space and came to the city in July asking for approval of a 168,000-square-foot addition, most of it in the form of a warehouse expansion.
Looking back
However, city zoning regulations limited the company, which is a nonconforming use in a single family residential area, to an increase of no more than 50 percent of its current size.
The result was that Joy Cone agreed July 12 to scale back its addition to 104,191 square feet, half the size of its current plant.
Since then, however, city commissioners enacted new zoning regulations that allow a company with a nonconforming use in a residential district to make a one-time expansion of up to 100 percent of its current size.
Atty. Ruthanne Beighley, representing Joy Cone, told the zoning hearing board that 100 percent for Joy Cone would be 312,573 square feet. That's the original building plus the expansion approved in July, she said.
However, the company is seeking only 66,508 additional square feet of space to further expand its warehouse, she said.
That will bring the total plant expansion to just over 170,000 square feet.
Lot coverage
The board had no problem with the expansion in light of the change in city zoning regulations and approved the request, but there was still a matter of lot coverage to be considered.
City law doesn't allow a building to occupy more than 15 percent of the total lot space.
Joy Cone occupied 30 percent of its lot when it made its first requests but has since bought about 20 acres. Lot coverage, with the expansion approved Monday, would amount to 24.4 percent, said David George, the company's executive vice president.
Beighley said the project needed a variance from the lot coverage regulation and the board granted that request as well.
Increased demand
Joe George, company president, told The Vindicator in July that the company needs to expand because a major competitor in Tennessee went bankrupt earlier this year, resulting in increased demand for Joy Cone's product.
The company has 300 employees and the expansion will create 100 jobs, he said.
Some minor portions of the project have begun, but major construction won't take place until spring.
gwin@vindy.com