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B.J. Alan gets go-ahead to move workers to facility
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Zoning variances recently approved by Bazetta and Howland townships give the B.J. Alan Fireworks Co. the go-ahead to move most of is workers to its new facility in the former Delphi Packard Electric facility on Larchmont Avenue.
The company plans to move 200 year-round and 50 to 75 seasonal employees into the facility this spring.
The Bazetta Township Zoning Board of Appeals approved a conditional-use permit Wednesday that allows the company to sell and store fireworks in 700,000 square feet of the 1.14-million square-foot facility.
About two-thirds of the facility is in Bazetta Township; the other third is in Howland Township.
The Howland Township Zoning Board of Appeals approved a variance last week for the Howland Township portion of the facility, said Kim Mascarella, Howland Township Planning and Zoning director.
Howland’s variance allows B.J. Alan to store, warehouse and distribute 1.4-G consumer fireworks in the facility, Mascarella said.
There is a classification that is higher than that for professional-grade fireworks, she noted.
The portion of the facility in Howland Township is 22 acres, Mascarella said.
In addition to storage and distribution, B.J. Alan will use a front section of the building for offices.
That still leaves some additional space in the building for expansion, said Mike Mills, Bazetta Township zoning inspector.
Mills said the breakdown of the 700,000 square feet is about 60 percent warehousing and 30 percent offices. Also planned in the future is a conference room and other expansions, Mills said.
B.J. Alan has said the majority of its 250 local employees will relocate to the new facility. The company employs around 2,400 people during the Fourth of July fireworks season.
The company has said the new facility will be used to carry out wholesale distribution for three divisions: chain-store customers; temporary operations, which are mainly tents and stands in western states; and the firm’s biggest division, its chain of Phantom Fireworks retail showrooms.
The entire Delphi facility was about 2.6 million square feet of buildings on 303 acres at North River Road and Larchmont Avenue before B.J. Alan bought the northernmost part of the complex.
Delphi recently demolished two buildings in the center of the complex to create a green-space divider between the two production buildings Delphi continues to use from the B.J. Alan facility.