Company withdraws plans for outdoor tanks

UPPERUWCHLAN>> After several hotly contested meetings, building plans to house several thousand gallons of acetone in the Eagleview complex have been withdrawn by the applicant.

The Hankin Group, on behalf of DSM Biomedical, submitted a conditional use application to install several tanks on the outside of what would be a building to produce silicone hydrogel for eventual contact lens production.

The proposal called for two tanks each housing 3,000 gallons of acetone to be built on the outside of the complex. Acetone is a common chemical used as a cleaning agent in industrial settings; it is also commonly used as nail polish remover and is extremely flammable.

Current ordinances concerning outdoor storage of chemicals caused confusion concerning over whether or not current building plans complied with preexisting ordinances.

“I’m struggling with how the applicant convinces us that as the regulatory structure exists,” said Board Chairperson Guy Donnatelli at the Feb. 9 supervisor’s workshop meeting. “If the vote was taken today, the plans wouldn’t be in compliance.”

Controversy also ensued between residents and officials over the exact nature of the proposed building. The board of supervisors described it as a manufacturing plant; the President and General Counsel of DSM North America Hugh Welsh described it as a biomedical manufacturing plant.

However one local resident, Steve McNaughton described it instead as a chemical plant. Prior to a board supervisors workshop meeting last week, he printed out and distributed fliers titled “chemical plants in Upper Uwchlan?”

Township Manager Cary

Vargo described the flier as “misleading.”

Welsh said DSM Biomedical wanted to move to Upper Uwchlan Township to consolidate their operations from their previous facility in Berkeley, California. He also stressed the facility in Berkeley was attached to a yoga studio.

DSM Biomedical specializes in manufacturing health materials and equipment.

Other residents were concerned over safety precautions and possible contamination in and around the local area if an accident were to occur. Residents also were concerned about the building’s proximity to Marsh Creek State Park.

Also at the same time, township administration is also working on changing their outdoor storage ordinance to allow in clear

language the existence of tanks above ground. The language of the current ordinance stoked contentious debate over the legitimacy of outdoor chemical storage in the township.

When asked about the preexisting tanks existing on other buildings, board supervisor Guy Donatelli said, “the township just missed it. We’re going to take a review to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

He said exterior tanks were not accounted for in the current ordinance.

“They’re there, we can’t change that. But no one can come in after the fact and change that,” Donatelli said.

When asked why the Hankin group withdrew their application, he cited overwhelming public disapproval of the plans to house acetone on site in external tanks.

“I think the applicant heard that, and withdrew their application,” he said.

When Vargo was asked if the proposal to build acetone tanks above ground at the proposed location in the Eagleview complex, he said “no.”