Pallet factory proposed for plating site
Tenth of a series
Last week, we discussed the saga of Pottstown Plating Works, an electroplating company on Industrial Highway that operated from 1940 until it went bankrupt in 2009, leaving several polluted and deteriorating buildings for somebody else to clean up.
After six years of inaction, followed by five more years of environmental remediation in fits and starts, the property was transferred to Pottstown entrepreneur John Jones, who promised to clean up the property, reconstruct it, and return it to productive use.
Two years prior to the transfer of the property from the Plating Works to Jones, in 2018, all three taxing entities — the borough, the school district, and the county — agreed to forgive all back taxes and fees, amounting to more than a million dollars.
Otherwise, no one would take on the project.
Exoneration was later extended to taxes owed up to 2020, when Jones bought the property from the Plating Works for $49,000. Jones then invested more than $1 million of his own money for additional environmental work, demolition and construction work, and legal fees.
In 2022, the county redevelopment authority obtained a $467,636 grant from the state Industrial Sites Reuse Program to finish the environmental clean-up
As part of the tax relief deal, Jones agreed to a deed restriction on the property, held by the borough, which prohibits certain uses for the site until June 16, 2027. Among the prohibited uses is outdoor storage.
Two months ago, Jones appeared before Pottstown Council to provide an update on the project.
Dan Ullman, owner of
D.J. Pallets in Norristown, said he hopes to manufacture new and reconditioned pallets at the former Pottstown Plating site.
Ulmann said he has 20 employees, but he expects that to increase to 50 employees if he can expand his business at the Plating Works site.
Although all the pallet manufacturing will take place indoors, pallets will be stored temporarily outdoors until they can be delivered to customers.
Members of Council entered into a long discussion about whether the outdoor storage of the pallets violated the deed restriction.
The borough’s assistant solicitor, Matthew Hovey, said because the outdoor storage of the pallets was an ancillary use, not a principal use, the proposed use did not violate the deed restriction.
(Besides which, since Council holds the deed restriction, they could choose not to enforce that provision).
After much talk, Council took no position — for or against — as Ullman of D.J. Pallets seeks a determination from Pottstown’s zoning officer as to whether a zoning variance is needed. If so, an application will go to the Pottstown Zoning Hearing Board.
Significantly, not one member of Council expressed any appreciation to Jones for risking a million of his own dollars and thousands of hours of his time to eliminate a contaminated wasteland and bring jobs to Pottstown.