Weitsman finds new site for metal sorting facility

Upstate Shredding has abandoned its attempt to locate a metal sorting facility at an idled lumber yard on Owego's southside, favoring a new site in an industrial zone.

Even though the town's Zoning Board of Appeals endorsed the plan, Adam Weitsman, company owner, said Tuesday that he is passing on the original location because it could adversely impact nearby residents and businesses.

"I was very excited that we won but could not get past in my mind the concerns people spoke about," Weitsman said in a Facebook post. "I have chosen a more appropriate site in an industrial area in Owego to build the facility."

The $7.5 million metal sorting operation was to be sited on the former 84 Lumber site on Route 434.

However, during the zoning board of appeals meeting, owners of nearby businesses and residents in a neighborhood close to the planned sorting facility expressed reservations about increased noise and traffic that would result from the industrial operation.

"I was very appreciative that even the people that spoke out the most vocally against it showed me respect through the whole process, even though it was a very heated subject that people were passionate about," Weitsman said in his Facebook post.

On the 3.5-acre site, Upstate Shredding had planned to occupy a 15,000-square-foot building to house new metal processing technology that would allow the company to expand its capabilities. A new state-of-the-art sorting system, which separates aluminum from heavier metals such as copper, brass, zinc and stainless steel, is capable of processing up 15 tons of scrap metal an hour.

The expansion is being aided by a $1 million grant from Empire State Development.

Project completion was originally scheduled within the next three months. Twenty-five employees will be added to Upstate Shredding's Owego payroll for the operation, which is expected to operate from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.

Upstate Shredding bills itself as the largest privately held scrap metal processor on the East Coast, operating 18 locations in New York and Pennsylvania. It has 400 employees company-wide and 130 in Owego.