Celebrity Stage Maker Gets Equipment Upgrade Approval

North American Plywood Corporation has owned a facility at 777 Jefferson Road for eight years and is looking to upgrade one of its equipment.

They were given approval from the Minor Site Plan and Subdivision Committee on Monday evening to install “a state-of-the-art dust collection system in an existing paved area,” according to General Manager Donald Kuser.

“We have a very small dust collector. We want to get a dust collector that returns (cleaner) air into the building.” The new dust collector is made of galvanized steel and is from Germany

The company imports wood products, “cut them to size, sand them, we … and sell to various industries,” such as sound and entertainment industries. They make part of the concert stages for stars such as Lady GaGa, Micheal Buble, Madonna, etc …  Their specialty is plywood from Italy, Finland and Russia.

“It’s a very high-end expensive product,” said Kuser.

The only two concerns that were raised were lighting and noise.

The applicant said that there’s “no reason for any additional lighting at all ... As far as the noise, it’s below 60 decibel five feet from the machine” adding that the property line is several hundred feet away. “This unit is entirely self contained. The (electrical) motors are left in the unit and are covered so it keeps the noise down.”

“The structure is mounted … bolted … on the concrete pad on its own.” It’s connected to the building by piping but sits structurally on its own 10 feet away from the building.

Township Planner Ed Snieckus added that since the dust collector is “not an accessory structure … (and) it’s not freestanding” and is connected to the building, “it’s part of the principal structure” and would not require a variance. Therefore, it does not need to go in front of the regular planning board.

The dust is collected in a bin and a refuse company comes every two weeks.

Although the new one “has capability of collecting more dust … the best part is that it’s energy efficient and … returns 100 percent of the air purified, which is the most important part … it’s very quiet, it looks nice, it’s all contained.”

“We own the building and try not to cut corners,” said Kuser. “We’re trying to bring jobs to Parsippany, we like doing business in the town.”

The approval was given unanimously with the stipulation that "they will visit with the engineer and will determine whether or not there is a fee to the monies to be held in escrow."