#11 Story
Bayshore Concrete Reveals Plans to Hire 300-400

Bayshore Concrete Products Treasurer John Chandler addresses Cape Charles Town Council. (Wave photo)

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(This story was updated September 23 to clarify the number of new jobs expected at Bayshore Concrete. Click here to read the update.)

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By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

September 22, 2013

Bayshore Concrete Products representatives have announced plans to hire 300-400 new employees at their Cape Charles location, a massive expansion after the current slowdown. The announcement came September 19 at the Cape Charles Town Council meeting.

Recent work at the Cape Charles Bayshore plant has been so light that the company has been transporting local workers to another installation across the Bay.

But now, according to Bayshore treasurer John Chandler, Bayshore Concrete has contracts to build spans for the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York and the Great Egg Harbor Bridge in New Jersey.

Chandler gave a brief history of the Bayshore plant, noting that it opened in 1960 to construct concrete spans for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  More recently the company has felt the effects of the 2008 recession and by competition from other companies. “The competition was catching up with us,” Chandler said.

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When the CBBT began expansion to a dual span in 1995, Bayshore failed to receive the bid to supply the concrete.

Chandler said that Bayshore has the advantages of deep water, rail, and truck transport. The planned Harbor Access road will make it possible for Bayshore to bid on jobs for longer spans than presently can be transported out of Cape Charles. For now, Bayshore is “limited by the road,” Chandler said.

Bayshore vice president and general manager Chad Saunders told Town Council that new piers the company is requesting to construct in the harbor will enable shipment of longer bridge spans than what is possible now. Bridge spans are getting longer and longer, he said. The original CBBT spans were 75 feet long. The spans for the 1995 addition were 100 feet long. Now, bridges are being built with 130- to 200-foot spans.

In other business, Town Council voted to approve a contract with financial advisor Davenport & Co. to pursue possible refinancing of two loans — a $1.5 million for the water tower, and $1.4 million for the wastewater plant. Davenport representative David Rose said that the Town could borrow an additional million dollars if it refinanced the loans.

During public comment time, several speakers opposed Town Council’s willingness to provide sewerage services to the Eastern Shore of Virginia Public Service Authority for commercial properties on Route 13 and Bayside Road going into Cheriton. Some speakers were from the affected area and explained that they did not want to pay the high sewer bills that residents of Cape Charles pay. Other speakers said that development on the highway would hurt businesses in Cape Charles and Cheriton.

Town Council voted to table the Floor Area Ratio proposals put forward from the Planning Commission because they wanted to get a clearer idea of what the proposed plan would mean for development. Councilman Frank Wendell was concerned that it would allow too much density, while councilman Steve Bennett thought the allowed density might not be enough.