Tracy welcomes ‘Chasing Our Tails’ production facility

 Call it “Plan C.” Steve Trachtenberg’s initial plan was simple: buy some buildings and bring his “Chasing Our Tails” business to Tracy. Those plans were derailed after the roof of one of the structures — the former Hebig Electric building on South St. — was damaged by snow and ice.

Last week, Trachtenberg’s back-up plan to start his national pet treat manufacturing business in the former County Fair building in Marshall officially ended when Carr Family Limited Partnership withdrew its request for a Conditional Use Permit for the building at the request of Trachtenberg.

That means back to square one for Trachtenberg, and square one means it’s back to Tracy. Trachtenberg has decided to revamp the former Salmon Chevrolet-Oldsmobile building on Fourth St. to make it suitable for production, bringing full circle his initial mission: to bring a new business and a number of jobs to Tracy.

“Per our original commitment to Tracy we’re bringing our production operations to the Salmon building, with an expected start date of May 31st,” Trachtenberg said in a recent interview with the Headlight Herald.

“With the help of local contractors, the City of Tracy and the TDC (Tracy Development Corporation) we hope this process, even with a short schedule, is still an achievable schedule. Given the fact that we’re under an extremely tight timeframe, we are going to completely rehabilitate (the Salmon) building. We’re going to tear it back to the bones; we’re going to start over.”

The removal and relocation of equipment inside the Salmon building began Monday. Everything non-structural, Trachtenberg said, is coming out. There will be new electrical and gas service as well. Interior remodeling is scheduled to begin soon.

“We will make the inside of the building brand new — clean and pristine,” he said.

Trachtenberg reiterated the fact that there won’t be an issue with any offensive odors from the plant.

That was the main sticking point with Marshall residents who testified against him at a March 28 Marshall Planning & Zoning Commission meeting. Many were worried about the potential smell, as well as increased truck traffic in the area, and said as much prior to the committee recommending — on a 4-2 vote — Trachtenberg receive a Conditional Use Permit to locate his business in the former County Fair building.

At the meeting, Trachtenberg defended himself to the hilt on the odor issue, and his defense against related accusations has solid backing.

Bruce Buttrick, the zoning administrator and code enforcement officer for 3 1/2 years for the town of Hudson, NH, where “Chasing Our Tails” was founded, said in a letter dated March 29 that there have been “no Code Enforcement actions against them at either location in town. There has not been any odor or noise nuisance complaints filed that I’m aware of.”

As much as Marshall residents were against “Chasing Our Tails” setting up shop in the County Fair building, Trachtenberg did have some supporters there. Marshall councilmen James Lozinski and Craig Schafer both went on record at last Tuesday’s council meeting, saying that Marshall needs to welcome new businesses to town.

Their statements, however, fell on deaf ears as there was no official agenda for the issue since the CUP request had been withdrawn.

The 22,000 square-foot South St. building was originally going to be the place where hot-air dehydration and freeze-drying processes would’ve been utilized to make the product.

The Fourth St. building would’ve been where micro-canning methods to manufacture other pet-treat products and premium canned pet food took place. Virtually all of the products are made specifically for dogs, although the firm does make a few cat treats.

Trachtenberg isn’t giving up on the South St. building.

He’s invested a lot of money in the structure and still owns it. Currently, there is still an open insurance claim out on the structure. “We’re still committed to the building,” he said.

“We just put new windows in — $40,000 worth of new windows.” Both Trachtenberg and contractor Dale Johnson III are confident the Salmon building will be ready in time to meet Trachtenberg’s deadline.

“I’m confident we are going to be able to maintain the schedule that’s needed,” said Johnson. The reason Trachtenberg didn’t opt to use the Salmon building after the roof issues occurred at the South St. building is because there wasn’t enough room to do both production and packaging.

No details have been released as of yet, but the packaging part of the business will take place outside of Tracy. Trachtenberg admitted the Salmon building can’t offer what the County Fair building does.

He said the latter would’ve been the “absolute ideal” home for “Chasing Our Tails” production, but he said he will be able to work with what the Salmon building has to offer.

“Chasing Our Tails” produces 165 different products that are sold at 5,500 retail locations in all 50 states. It is one of several companies that operate under the umbrella of Trachtenberg’s privately-held company, New England Pet Products.