By Joe Pinchot
HERMITAGE — Joy Cone Co. is already the ice cream cone market leader in retail and food service sales.
With an expansion approved Wednesday by Hermitage Zoning Hearing Board, the company will be positioned to grow in the remaining market where it does not lead: dairy pack in which the company makes cones for dairies to create other ice cream products, said Joy President Dave George.
The Hermitage manufacturer plans to add 190,000 square feet in production and warehousing space to its Lamor Road plant, and 50 jobs over three years, George said.
“Our sales have been up over 30 percent since we were last before the board (in 2004),” George said. “We’ve also hired over 100 people in the time period.”
The additional production space, 90,000 square feet, will allow Joy Cone to make more sugar cones, George said, noting regular demand for cones is up. The 100,000 square feet in new warehouse space will allow the company to keep more product on-site, eliminating the need to truck it elsewhere for storage.
Neighbor Tim Vesonder said he’s all for anything that cuts down on truck traffic on Lamor.
Vesonder noted that he had opposed a past expansion plan because he didn’t know what it would mean for the neighborhood, but he supports the new one.
“Joy Cone has been very diligent in practicing good neighborhoodship,” he said.
The company responds to problems, such as when garbage trucks came too early in the morning, and corrects them, Vesonder said.
He also said he was pleased to learn that the dirt excavated for the expansion will be kept on site, eliminating a dirt and dust problem on Lamor.
“Even though there is a large plant a stone’s throw away, for all practical purposes, I don’t know they’re there until they open the windows and I smell the cake cones,” Vesonder said.
Company officials met with neighbors and outlined their plans, and made some adjustments based on what neighbors said, George said. The company even altered the proposed position of the expansion to create more of a setback, he said.
George pledged the company will take “extensive measure to shroud the building” with vegetative screening, and even will thicken existing screening. Truck loading and unloading will remain behind closed doors, and not be done at night or early in the morning. Sound reduction buffers will be built on the roof of the new production building, he said.
The stormwater extension basin will be expanded, and a second one could be built, George said.
The company, which employs about 325, recently bought 9 acres, giving it a total of about 45 acres, and the new buildings will bring the square footage under roof to 514,537.
Although Joy Cone has been at its site for many years, it is located in a single-family residential zoning district, making expansion plans the purview of the zoning hearing board.
The board granted a variance for lot coverage allowing the company to occupy 26.3 percent of its acreage, when the zoning ordinance allows 15 percent.
The board also permitted the expansion as a non-conforming use in a residential district.
“We’re thrilled,” George said of the board’s action. “We obviously need to do this expansion and we’re excited to get going.”
If the variances had not been approved, the company would have had to build a separate plant, an expansive undertaking creating inefficiencies because of duplication of equipment.
The company has fared well during the economic downturn.
“The food service industry hasn’t suffered as much as others to start with,” George said. “Cones are a relatively inexpensive treat. It’s a feel-good item as well.”
