Steel Fabricator on Farm Bureau Road Gets Zoning Approval

Upper Macungie’s Zoning Board approved variances Wednesday night that will allow a company to fabricate steel for bridges on Farm Bureau Road, just off Tilghman Street.

Michelman Steel Enterprises will take over the building at 6338 Farm Bureau Road and start production in May, according to owner Eric C. Michelman. However, Michelman said, he would not be able to go through with the deal without two variances.

“Otherwise, we’d have to tear everything down,” he said, “and that would cost about $2.5 million … even to do internal renovations would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

If the variances weren’t approved, Michelman said, he’d have to look for a facility somewhere else.

The company needs additions to the building that include a 30-by-50-foot concrete pad and a bump out that measures 5 feet wide by 21 feet high. The pad is for a conveyor that will pull 50-foot long pieces of steel into the building. The bump out is a screen to protect fabrication equipment that protrudes out of the building.

Kevin P. Markell, an engineer on the project from Barry Isett & Associates, Inc., called the size of the additions “insignificant” when compared to the 17,400 square foot building.

The problem is that both the pad and bump out encroach into the 30-foot setback required by regulations. But the existing building already sits inside the setback because it was built before the regulation was in place.

As Michelman said, to bring the entire property into compliance would require the entire building to be knocked down and rebuilt out of the setback.

The property is surrounded by other light industrial companies and a trucking terminal, at 6322 Farm Bureau Road.

Board member Robert Rabe asked about the noise level in the fabrication process. Michelman said it would be no louder than had come out of the old Rarlon Iron Works, and within limits.

The Zoning Board approved both additions, 5-0.

Michelman said his customers will include PennDOT and SEPTA, and he hopes to provides steel for bridges in New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley.