Barre Town capacitor plant gets approval to expand; 100 more jobs possible
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Mohamed Bajic of Barre sets up a machine for an automated welding procedure at the SB Electronics plant. STEFAN HARD/TIMES ARGUS FILE |
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: October 27, 2009
BARRE TOWN – A Barre-based capacitor manufacturer has cleared a key regulatory hurdle and soon will begin construction of a new 52,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, which is expected to create in excess of 100 new jobs.
On Monday, the District 5 Environmental Commission issued a land-use permit for the high-volume manufacturing plant that SBE Inc. has proposed to build in Barre Town's Wilson Industrial Park.
According to SBE's legislative liaison, Brad Gordon, all that remains is for the town's development review board to conduct its final site plan review of the much-anticipated project – a comparative formality – when it meets Wednesday night.
"Basically, we're permit-ready," said Gordon, who explained SBE must send the package of state and local permits it has received for the project to its largest funder – the U.S. Department of Energy – for its review, before receiving a green light for construction.
Gordon said that shouldn't take long given the department's familiarity with a project that was awarded a $9.1 million matching grant under a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that was specifically aimed at improving electric car technology.
If all goes well, Gordon said construction could begin by Nov. 16, though he said that call will ultimately be made by E.F. Wall & Associates, SBE's contractor, current landlord, and a key investor in the project.
"There's only so much they can do (this year)," he said. "It could be a spring build."
Either way, Gordon said the proposed manufacturing plant, where SBE plans to produce a new generation of power ring capacitors for the power trains of electric and hybrid vehicles, should be up and running by this time next year.
"That's the goal," he said. Town officials have already started construction of the road and water line that will serve the soon-to-be-developed lot.
SBE received word that the necessary land-use permit had been granted shortly before Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., arrived to tour the company's 30,000-square-foot operation in the E.F. Wall-owned Wall Street complex on South Main Street in Barre.
District 5 Environmental Coordinator Edward Stanak said the commission's review of the project was relatively routine and required only a single hearing, which was held at the town offices earlier this month.
"That was absolutely the right project, (the) right place," Stanak said, noting a large-scale manufacturer is precisely what proponents of the industrial park had in mind when it obtained an umbrella permit for the park many years ago.
According to Stanak, many of the underlying issues that might have required more in-depth scrutiny from the commission were dealt with at that time.
"All the fundamental issues were taken care of 15 years ago," he said.
Construction of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with cutting-edge equipment capable of producing 100,000 power ring capacitors a year will enable SBE to pursue its corporate growth plan in central Vermont instead of shipping those jobs overseas.
According to Gordon, SBE, which currently employs about 50 people, will create 150 jobs over the next three years "as production ramps up." That figure, he said, doesn't include approximately 40 construction jobs that E.F. Wall will create in order to build the new facility.
If not for the federal matching grant that was awarded by the department of energy in August, Gordon said those construction jobs wouldn't have been needed and SBE would likely have looked to China when it came time to expand.
"This is something that was made possible by the (U.S.) Department of Energy," he said.
According to Gordon, the company cobbled together its $9.1 million match using a combination of state programs and private investors.
E.F. wall has invested $2.4 million in the project, according to Gordon, who said SBE has $1.3 million at stake and was able to obtain a $1.3 million low-interest loan from the Vermont Economic Development Authority, and approximately $3 million in state job creation incentives from the Vermont Economic Progress Council.
The new manufacturing plant will accommodate SBE's expansion plans, according to Gordon, who said the company would continue to lease the space occupied by its current operation through at least 2012.
If the power ring technology takes off, Gordon said, SBE has plans for a second phase that contemplates the construction of a 47,000-square-foot addition to the new plant. Preliminary estimates suggest an operation of that size would employ between 300 and 500 workers.
"There's a great deal of future possibility here," he said.
david.delcore@timesargus.com
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