A Wildwood pipe manufacturer plans a major expansion after it was acquired recently by a Taiwan firm.
Primus Pipe & Tube is seeking to rezone 30 acres next to its plant on West Clarke Street near U.S. 301 to industrial to facilitate the expansion.
Special Magistrate Grant Watson of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Board this week recommended that the City Commission approve the rezoning. The property currently is zoned Oxford Neighborhood Mixed Use.
Watson said the city should require the manufacturer to buffer its plant from homes across Clarke Street with trees or possibly a wall.
Ryan Houser of the city’s development services department said one resident complained about noise from the plant that could get worse with the expansion. The property to be developed is closer to homes than the current plant.
Primus Pipe, a steel pipe and tube manufacturer, was established in 2001. The company has annual sales of about $39 million and approximately 100 employees.
The sale of Primus to Ta Chen International for $25 million euros was announced Aug. 1. The new owner, a pipe distributor in the United States, is part of Ta Chen Stainless Pipe of Taiwan.
A spokesman for the former owner, Outokumpu Group, based in Helsinki, Finland, said the sale will allow it to focus its U.S. efforts on stainless steel production.
