By Harold Kitching
Casa Grande Dispatch
Approval of a major site plan Thursday night by the Casa Grande Planning and
Zoning Commission sets the stage for Commonwealth Dairy to build an 89,999-square-foot building for manufacturing yogurt.
Approval was unanimous, with member Joel Braunstein absent.
The plant will be constructed on 27 acres southwest of Gila Bend Highway and VIP Boulevard, just west of The Property Conference Center.
No start date for construction was announced. But the commission was told that Commonwealth and the city are working together to coordinate the work with the city’s installation of a major sewer line along part of the highway, expected to be completed by September of next year. The site is not connected to the city sewer system. That connection must be in place before the plant could open.
Commonwealth, headquartered in Brattleboro, Vt., has teamed with Ehrmann AG, a family-run international yogurt company based in Germany, for the Casa Grande facility. Ehrmann has production facilities in Germany, Russia and the Czech Republic, selling branded and private label yogurt in more than 40 countries.
Commonwealth personnel have told the city the plant would initially employ 130 people and could expand to 150 workers. During its last meeting, the Board of Adjustment was told that those jobs would pay well above the $43,000 yearly state average. Thursday night, the planning commission was told that jobs will range from top management to workmen, but no salary ranges were mentioned.
The plant is also expected to purchase 1.7 million gallons of milk from area dairies.
The Board of Adjustment was told that Commonwealth was recruited to Casa Grande by the United Dairymen of Arizona coop, also working with Casa Grande economic development officials and the Central Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation.
Also: 615 acres to cost Pima County $4M; uses to include fields, lake, retail
