Rockland Bakery Proposes Expansion

The Rockland Bakery has submitted an application to the Clarkstown Planning Board for an additional facility to bake cakes for wholesale distribution.  The application requests approval for a 31,620-square-foot facility on 3.2 acres along West Nyack Road in Nanuet.

According to Clarkstown Town Planner Joe Simoes, the application is still in the preliminary stages. The planning board will review the application at its Wednesday night meeting.   He said the facility is being referred to as the Demarest Mill Bakery to differentiate it from the existing Rockland Bakery. 

The proposed location is on the south side of West Nyack Road, approximately 400 feet west of Demarest Mill Road. No variances would be required. The property, which is located between Toys R Us and County Gas Service, is currently used for parking the bakery’s trucks and tractor-trailers. 

The zoning for light industrial/office,” he said. “This is an acceptable use.”

Simoes said the project is for minor manufacturing, including the baking of 80 percent of the cakes prepared for wholesale distribution. It would feature a two-story building with a mezzanine, warehouse and storage space. The retail operation would remain at 94 Demarest Mill Road, the present location. 

“There is no retail,” said Simoes of the proposed expansion.

The Rockland Bakery is described on its website as one of the largest bakeries in the Northeast. It has more than 100 trucks on the road and four distribution centers. 

We deliver as far north as the Massachusetts border and as far south as Delaware including metro New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Albany, Harrisburg and the Lehigh Valley.

The proposed site would be gated and Simoes said the 64 parking spaces provided would be for facility employees and trucks.  The site plan provides 32 standard size car parking spaces sized 10 feet by 19.5 feet, 10 extra large spaces for box trucks of 10 feet by 25 feet, 14 truck spaces of 10 feet by 30 feet and eight tractor-trailer spaces measuring 10 feet by 55 feet. Additionally, a maintenance garage with fuel pumps, an underground fuel storage system and two indoor loading bays would be constructed. 

Simoes noted the application was filed in December 2010.  He said a traffic study has been completed and reviewed and an environmental review must still be completed. The town’s Architectural Review Board must also consider the application. Rockland Bakery’s owners could not be reached for comment on the application.