Changing of Guard Puts Scrap Project in Jeopardy

Several years ago Goodman Services Inc., a Pennsylvania scrap metal recycler, had come into Jamestown, NY, and spent around $500,000 to buy, clean up and repair an abandoned facility. Additionally, the company added a railroad spur to the site, with the plan to use the site as a transloading facility.

However, after a handshake agreement with many of the local elected officials, a recent election turned out many of the officials that the company had been working with. The result, according to Eric Goodman, sales manager for Goodman Services, said that the city has made a 180 degree change, and has been fighting plans for the company to operate the facility.

Adding to the opposition, a recent variance board meeting voted 7-0 against the company, and the city of Jamestown has filed a Cease and Desist order. However, a local judge has filed a stay, pending a review of the decision.

The company had initially sought to have a variance to the site from light industrial to heavy industry, but members of the city’s Board of Appeals said that the company fits into the city’s definition of a junkyard.

Goodman says that the operation would basically be only a feeder yard, with only the smallest amount of processing taking place. Both ferrous and nonferrous scrap would be loaded on a container and then shipped to Goodman’s Pennsylvania yard for further processing.

Goodman says that the company spent its own money to fix the facility, which was "very bad shape." However, after spending the money to get the six acre facility in good shape, including putting in concrete where the material was handled, the company has seen the city turn its back on them. "The city just wanted someone to clean up the site," he adds.

While the company is looking at other locations in the county to open a scrap feeder yard, Goodman says it is unlikely that the company will be able to recoup the money that it invested at the contentious site.