Chester mayor blocks PDJ Components permit request after $15,000 fine

Mayor John Tom Bell stopped PDJ Components from getting its special permit and site plan request heard at the June 8 Village of Chester Board of Trustees meeting, leaving the Chester manufacturing plant’s expansion plans in limbo. Bell’s refusal came after the village had already fined the company $15,000 and after he said PDJ failed to pave its work site by the May 1 court-ordered deadline. The clash turned a routine land-use filing at 35 Brookside Avenue into a test of how hard Chester would press a business before granting more approvals.

PDJ Components Inc. operates a roof truss, floor truss and wall panel manufacturing plant at 35 Brookside Avenue. Company materials say it supplies lumberyards in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England and the Mid-Atlantic, and the proposed project had been described as growing the site from 38,000 square feet to 53,000 square feet, a change large enough to require special permission from the village board.

The dispute had been building for months. In March, PDJ settled cited violations for $15,000 and presented a revised site plan after earlier complaints from neighbors about dust, 24-hour operations and loud noises. The village later said residents were still complaining about dust and dirt pollution, and Bell used the missed paving deadline as the immediate reason not to move the application forward on June 8.

Chester’s land-use system puts those decisions through the Village Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board, while the Building Department enforces New York State Fire Prevention and Building Codes along with the local zoning code. The Planning Board held a work session on June 4, days before the trustees meeting, showing the matter was still active in the village’s approval pipeline.

For Chester, the standoff was bigger than one manufacturer. The plant sits in a village about 60 miles north of New York City, on NY-94 and north of NY-17, where one project can quickly become a public issue. Bell’s move signaled that the village wanted compliance first and approvals later, a stance that could shape how other businesses approach permits, site plans and code enforcement in Orange County.