Byrne Dairy Visits C-Ville Planning Board For Major Expansion – $110 Million Dollar Project For Phase 2

During last night’s Cortlandville Planning Board meeting, Byrne Dairy returned to officially present their plans for a phase two expansion to their existing dairy manufacturing facility off of Route 13 in the Town of Cortlandville. Byrne Dairy originally showed their intention for the expansion earlier this year during a sketch plan conference.

Phase 2 of a multi phase Byrne Dairy plans to develop over the years will include a 100,650 square foot expansion of production and warehouse space. The second phase will also include the installation of three stainless steel silos on an existing silo pad on the property, additional blending and batching equipment, and up to six complete filling and packaging lines.

Byrne Dairy looks to begin construction on phase two as soon as it obtains all the necessary approvals from the Town of Cortlandville. The company estimates that work will take about a year to complete. The expansion will be an added boost for local employment, Byrne Dairy says up to 90 new jobs are expected to be created from the expansion; total employment will reach 200 at the facility. The cost of phase two is estimated at $110 million dollars.

Speaking on the project during last night’s meeting was Dan Wood, Chief Operating Officer for Byrne Dairy. Mr. Wood says this project of Phase 2 will double the production at the plant. Currently, the facility produces extended shelf life milk, which was an investment by Byrne Dairy at the facility a few years ago that has proven to be a major success. He continued on to say this type of product is able to ship milk products to areas outside of Central New York due to the products able to have a shelf life of about 90 days. Mr. Wood noted some of those customers included Publix grocery stores in the Florida region and stores in Chicago.

Some questions that were asked by the Planning Board included ample water and electricity supply. Mr. Wood noted that Byrne is currently working with the Town of Cortlandville for the addition of another well on the aquifer and Byrne has been working with their utility company, National Grid, who informed them that there is an available 4.6 Mega Watts of power that can be supplied with the addition of another line at the nearby substation.

The Planning Board, with no further questions, made a motion to be the lead agency, which the Town Board will likely approve during their next meeting, as well as sending the plans to the Cortland County Planning Board for review and recommendations.

Byrne Dairy looks to begin construction as early as this Spring.