A local firm that produces packaging materials is seeking two zoning variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) as part of its proposal for a major expansion of its factory in a M-1 (Industrial) zone at 32 Schoolhouse Hill Road.

Rand-Whitney Container Newtown LLC’s requested variances will be the subject of a ZBA public hearing scheduled for 7:30 pm on Wednesday, August 5, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Rand-Whitney is seeking a zoning variance that would allow the structural coverage at its lot to increase from the current maximum of 35 percent to 38.2 percent.

Also, it is seeking a variance that would decrease the property’s minimum front-yard building setback distance from 100 feet to 65 feet.

In effect, the two variances would allow the firm to expand its current 127,500-square-foot packaging materials factory to 310,500 square feet in floor area — more than seven acres. Such an expansion would result in a factory that is more than 2.4 times as large as the existing factory.

The factory site, which is on the on the southwest corner of Schoolhouse Hill Road and Edmond Road, is approximately 18.74 acres overall.

In a letter of explanation to the ZBA, Rand-Whitney states that the proposed factory expansion is “necessary by our need to accommodate new manufacturing process equipment required to remain competitive in the corrugated container production market.”

If Rand-Whiney receives the zoning variances from the ZBA, it would then need a wetlands/watercourses protection review by the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) and a development review by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

The Edmond Road corridor has experienced some significant industrial expansion during the past decade, including the expansion and conversion of a former Pitney-Bowes facility by Advanced Fusion Systems at 11 Edmond Road, and the construction of industrial space by 5-K Enterprises Inc at 3 Edmond Road.

Besides Newtown, Rand-Whitney has eight other industrial locations, including a factory in Waterbury, as well as facilities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ireland.

The Rand-Whitney application to the ZBA is available for public review at the Land Use Agency office at Newtown Municipal Center.