Board approves lease of Parcel B

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The Board of Mayor and Burgesses has approved a temporary lease to allow YoCrunch to park trailers at Parcel B, the parking lot of the borough-owned General DataComm property. –LUKE MARSHALL
The Board of Mayor and Burgesses has approved a temporary lease to allow YoCrunch to park trailers at Parcel B, the parking lot of the borough-owned General DataComm property. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — Borough officials have agreed to temporarily lease a parking lot along Old Firehouse Road to a Naugatuck company.

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses voted April 21 to allow YoCrunch to park its trailers on the land known as Parcel B, the parking lot of the borough-owned General DataComm property.

Mayor Robert Mezzo said the company needs to use the parking lot because it is currently consolidating its operations in the borough.

“After being approached by YoCrunch, which is consolidating and working with us to stay in Naugatuck, they were looking for a temporary site, for about six months, to store their trailers,” Mezzo said. “We’ve come to an agreement to allow them to use the Parcel B parking lot to do that.”

YoCrunch may store up to 20 trailers at a time, according to officials.

YoCrunch produces and distributes yogurt with flavored toppings. The company, which was originally owned by YoFarm Yogurt Co. in Mount Vernon, N.Y., was bought by Danone SA in August 2013. Danone is the parent company of Dannon and Stonyfield yogurts.

The contract was not finalized as of this post. Naugatuck Economic Development Corporation CEO Ronald Pugliese said the company will pay approximately $1,000 a month to rent the parking lot.

The deal is meant to assist YoCrunch in staying in the borough as it consolidates its operations in Naugatuck.

The company currently owns four locations in Naugatuck with two on Spring Street, one on Sheridan Drive and one on Rado Drive.

Pugliese said the company is working to consolidate its operations into a new property on Rado Drive and one on Spring Street. He said if the company does not obtain the spot it is currently looking at, its future in the borough is uncertain.

“We’d have to find them another spot. We’d work very hard to keep them in town,” Pugliese said.

Messages left with YoCrunch seeking comment were not returned as of this post.

Until recently the General DataComm parking lot was used as a lot for A Better Way Auto, a Naugatuck car dealer.

The car dealer, which is looking to build a facility in the borough’s industrial park to store its vehicles, recently moved the cars from Parcel B to a lot on the Risdon property off Andrew Avenue.

According to the minutes of the Zoning Commission’s March meeting, the car dealer was given a temporary certificate of zoning compliance for six months to park its cars at the Risdon property.