Central Oregonian

ICP back in business at new location

The company, which started its operations on Lamonta Road, is setting up on Peters Road after getting the go-ahead from the City Planning Commission

RAMONA MCCALLISTER/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

ICP Northwest has officially set up shop at the old Workmans site off of Peters Road. At the March 5 City of Prineville Planning Commission meeting, they were given a thumbs-up to move ahead on their manufacturing business.

Ramona McCallister

March 11, 2013

Approximately seven months after initially setting up a work site off of Lamonta Road, Integrated Communications Products Northwest is back in business on Peters Road.

The company brought a proposal before the City Planning Commission last week to manufacture prefabricated residential and commercial structures from used cargo containers on the old “Workmans” site. The proposal brought some pushback from residents of the neighboring community at the March 5 public hearing held by the City of Prineville Planning Commission meeting. Although the ultimate result was a thumbs-up by the Planning Commission, several neighbors of the proposed site voiced their concerns about the business.

At the same meeting, several people spoke in favor of the proposal, although none of them were actually neighbors of the site.

One of the concerned neighbors included Teresa Hisaw-Elmore, who lives directly next to the lot where ICP Northwest will be setting up their business. She also wrote a letter to the editor in the March 5 issue of the Central Oregonian.

“The sawing of metal, banging, and hammering so close to my home would be completely disturbing,” she wrote. “This kind of business should be out on Lamonta Road in an industrial business area, not a residential area where families live, have barbecues, play in the streets, and enjoy the cleanliness of our neighborhood.”

Hisaw-Elmore also added on Friday that she and her husband drive a truck for a living, and they are familiar with the process of unloading freight, especially in the winter. She is concerned about trucks coming in and idling for long periods of time when unloading, and the associated fumes and noise.

Elmore and several neighbors also submitted some questions to be addressed by ICP Northwest at the hearing. Some of these included whether there would be criminal background checks of those working for them, whether they would be working specific time schedules, whether the paint being used would be lead-based, and whether there would be emissions from the paint booth. John Knotek, President of ICP Northwest, responded to the questions.

In regards to the concern on background checks, Knotek said that there would be background checks on all employees. Addressing the other concerns, he added that the working hours would be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. There would not be any lead-based paint, and the paint booth is filtered for fumes and particulates. He said that they use water-based paints.

One other concern was related to DEQ testing on the old Workmans property, because of oil spilled from the prior owners.

Knotek replied that they will do all construction inside of the building. “We are also laying out the facility to provide a buffer for noise,” he said.

He noted that they are in the process of a Department of Environmental Quality cleanup to remove all existing oil and soil that is contaminated.

Knotek indicated that the work they will be doing at the new site is different than they conducted on Lamonta.

“It’s not going to be that heavy production like that, which was part of the agreement when we first went into the Planning Commission — that it would just be a couple per day (cargo containers).”

He said that they will manufacture all the containers inside, in comparison to the orders done off of Lamonta, which were mostly done outside. The property off of Peters Road is zoned R2 and M1, with the majority of the property in the M1 zone. The comprehensive plan designates the property as entirely light industrial. The site was previously used for manufacturing heavy equipment repair, welding, and other similar industrial uses.

Manufacturing of the cargo containers will consist of plasma cutting, welding, framing, electrical, plumbing, and painting. The Planning Commission made the decision that even though the applicant’s proposal is similar to the previous use of the industrial zone, it is surrounded by residential homes. Therefore, to minimize potential impacts, ICP Northwest will be subject to specific conditions of approval, as well as overall City code ordinances.

After the hearing was closed, the Planning Commission deliberated on the staff-recommended conditions and made several changes, which reflected their desire to strike a balance between business operations and neighbor concerns, with an emphasis on the ability to mitigate issues as they arise.

City of Prineville Senior Planner Josh Smith commented that the biggest change was leaving the hours completely open, understanding that the recommended hours were still there, and that they would operate within those recommendations.

“We wanted to keep it open on the front end, instead of closing it off, so that they could better decide what the hours would be based on actual events.”

Other conditions included guidelines on the paint and detailing building, with requirements of approval by the Crook County Building and fire department, and the exhaust system in the paint booth having adequate filtering for fumes and particulates. All manufacturing must remain indoors, with only bulky construction materials such as containers, pallets of lumber, or trailers to be stored outside. Stacking of outdoor materials is only allowed to the height of 10 feet, and materials will be at least 50 feet from the property line on the east side of the property.

ICP Northwest shall also utilize the existing paved area as their primary access, and no loading or unloading shall occur on the west side of the primary building or within 50 feet of any property line. The business must ensure that the operation is designed to minimize the chance of creating a nuisance as a result of lighting, noise, dust, or appearances.

“We are excited, and we have a lot of good plans lined up and some projects coming up shortly,” said Knotek on Friday. “We have a two-week break just to make sure everyone is OK with it and it is approved.”