The Contractor Yard

Plan for Potsdam scrap yard near airport looks like a go

POTSDAM — A local contractor has proposed building a salvage yard near the Potsdam airport, and the town's Planning Board seems poised to give him its blessing.

James E. Sheehan, the contractor handling the construction of a New York State United Teachers office complex on Lawrence Avenue, sought approval Tuesday from the Planning Board to begin converting the lot at 325 Route 11B into a recycling center for scrap metal.

Because of the lot's proximity to the airport, local planners told Mr. Sheehan he will have to gain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. Once he does so, the board has said it will approve the plan.

"The current building is pretty dilapidated, so this is a major improvement," Planning Board Chairman Lawrence K. Averill said. "As a board, we are absolutely tickled pink to see this happen."

Mr. Sheehan's proposal could be approved as soon as next week, when the board will meet again. Before that can happen, the FAA wants assurances from Mr. Sheehan that no building on the property will be higher than 45 feet because of safety issues involving airplane takeoffs and landings. Because he plans to use excavators instead of cranes, Mr. Sheehan said, the height limit won't be a problem.

"I can live within the parameters they want without affecting the business," Mr. Sheehan said. "Everything I planned to do fits with what they are asking for."

The nearly 6-acre lot, a former scrap yard, has been vacant for several years. The property is surrounded by a large wall of trees so much of the work that goes on in the lot will not be visible from the road.

Mr. Sheehan met all of the other requirements put forth by the board, including plans to build a large buffer zone around the perimeter of the area.

Initial concerns that the new yard might attract wildlife onto the runways of the airport were put aside after conversations with engineers from C&S, a Syracuse engineering firm, Mr. Sheehan said.

Collaborative Consumption at the Contractor Yard Sale | Fast Company

The building industry has been through the ringer in the Great Recession and contractors along with it, but tough times also help us to see new opportunities like finding new uses for wasted building materials. Construction and demolition generates 160 millions of tons of waste each year in the U.S., according to the EPA--every ton of which is an opportunity to reduce, recycle, and reuse. Very often excess supplies like lumber, tile, or plumbing supplies that are ordered for a job can't be returned, and will end up in the landfill or stacked up in warehouses. The pressure to get efficient and save money has people like Andrew Pennington taking another look at these materials and how to get them out of storage and into use. Andrew Pennington has a plan to reduce this waste with the Contractor Yard Sale , now open at a computer near you.

A large variety of material ordered by contractors often can't be returned from the job site such as lumber, lighting, plumbing, doors, or windows, from the smallest screws to the kitchen sink. This material is still perfectly usable in the right hands for the right job, but the trick is matching up those who have these surplus building supplies with those who need them.

From his father's building supply business in Corbin, Kentucky, Pennington saw firsthand the challenge this material created for contractors. "It was really just an overwhelming trend-- everyone wanted to return something," said Pennington. "It wasn't that they weren't satisfied with the product. It was that they simply ordered too much. I knew that if our production facility was getting this huge volume of return requests, it had to be a huge problem nationwide. Seeing the problem as an opportunity, Pennington decided to create a solution which became Contractor Yard Sale.

Contractors can post their materials on the site for a small fee, and anyone looking for low cost building materials can get in touch with them to buy it. It's that simple.

"It is a place for contractors or even suppliers to advertise their surplus items for sale, and for consumers to pick them up at a low price" said Pennington. "It's like an online yard sale. When you go out to browse a yard or garage sale, you don't really know what you're looking for, but you can bet that you'll find something cheap and pretty awesome."

Electricians are one group that can benefit from a site like this. " I know that I can go out to my garage, and find a bunch of things that I have left over from past jobs," said Seth Venable. "Some of them couldn't be returned and just went into surplus inventory, and others I thought I may use on another job, but most ended up sitting around collecting dust. With Contractor Yard Sale, I could just list them online." Once posted, someone else can buy new goods like this for far less than their original cost. "We have needed something like this for a while," said Venable.

Shipping board operations

Hearings

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Shipping Board operations, hearings before Select Committee on U.S. Shipping Board Operations, House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, second -[third] session

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