Vineland glassmaker Glastron wins approval for 8,700-square-foot expansion

Glastron Inc., the Vineland precision laboratory glassmaker at 510 Northwest Boulevard at the corner of Erin Street, cleared a key hurdle Feb. 18 when the Vineland zoning board voted 5-0 to approve a use variance for an 8,700-square-foot plant addition. The plan keeps the site at roughly its current 1.9-acre footprint by demolishing several on-site structures, including a house used as an office, to make room for the new building and for improved parking, traffic flow and stormwater management.

Restek Corp., the Bellefonte, Pennsylvania-based parent that filed the use-variance application on Glastron’s behalf, has said the work is a reconfiguration rather than an expansion of headcount or output. Project attorney Michael Gruccio and project planner Stephen Hawk testified at the hearing that neither manufacturing capacity nor the workforce will increase under the plan; Glastron currently employs 42 people on the Northwest Boulevard site.

Stephen Hawk spelled out the rationale for the footprint change in zoning-board testimony, arguing the project is intended to modernize employee space and operations. “And it’s one of the reasons why Restek would like to expand here and have their employees be treated with a proper layout,” Hawk said. “Because they can’t find this kind of talent everywhere.” Hawk also described cramped conditions today: “They’re on top of each other, somewhat,” Hawk said. “And their break room and their lunchroom is right up against the production area. They have a very small training room. They’d like to modernize their bathroom and have more efficient storage of their finished product and the product that comes in.”

City planning documents and local coverage show the concept plan has already been accepted by municipal officials; the zoning-board vote clears the use-variance but does not authorize construction. The company must next submit a fully designed, final site plan for board approval before demolition or building permits can be issued.

The Vineland plant has been on Northwest Boulevard since about 1969 and remained locally owned until it was sold to Restek in January 2010. Courier-Post coverage notes the site “became fully employee-owned last year,” mirroring Restek’s employee ownership structure, although the report does not specify the calendar year of that change.

Local outlets differ in describing how the 8,700-square-foot addition compares with the existing facility: one reported the project would “more than double” the operation’s size, while another called it “nearly double.” The numeric addition is clear, but municipal records supplied to the zoning board do not include the current building square footage needed to independently verify those percentage characterizations.

For Vineland the immediate implications are modest: the plan aims to modernize workspace and address parking, traffic and stormwater issues at 510 Northwest Boulevard without increasing payroll or production, according to testimony. Final approval of engineering plans, a timeline for demolition and construction costs have not been released; the zoning board’s next review will focus on the fully designed site plan required to move the project from concept to construction.