By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

Blame it on the buttermilk.

More than a year after introducing buttermilk to its line of sea-salted and unsalted butters, Kate’s Homemade Butter of Old Orchard Beach is experiencing growing pains. Owner and founder Daniel Patry said his company has outgrown its current manufacturing facility in a single-family home on Arbutus Avenue and needs to move soon.

Several neighbors of the facility say truck traffic on narrow streets is inconvenient and could prevent emergency vehicles from traversing the neighborhood. Town officials responding to a neighbor’s complaint want to know when Patry plans to relocate his company to a better location.

For Patry, a move to a proposed new facility in Arundel can’t come soon enough. He purchased a 38-acre land parcel of land off Route 111 and plans to build a 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with a retail store and dairy cows.

With plans to move under way since 2006, Patry said he is anxious to get the project going so his company can work more efficiently in a facility more conducive to producing a million pounds of butter each year. Building plans were downsized because of cost and the economy shortly before receiving final approval from Arundel, he said.

Arundel Town Planner Tad Redway said Patry’s project does not have a conditional-use permit and plans for the project have not been presented to the planning board since a review of original plans by a town engineer in February 2009.

Redway said Patry started the planning board process in 2008, after the town changed its zoning ordinance and Comprehensive Plan to accommodate a butter-processing facility in a rural district. The district already allowed agriculture, but zoning regulations were changed to allow processing and manufacturing. The changes include a stipulation the company demonstrate to the public how butter is made, which Patry said he will do four times each year during tours with schoolchildren.

Patry said he and his son, Lucas, are working with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to expedite approval of a storm water drainage plan and site evaluation. After those permits are secured, they will proceed with the town planning process.

The planning process usually takes about three months, depending on the completeness of applications, Redway said.

“We’ll be happy to see them when they do come in,” he said.

Patry said he hopes to have a foundation in and a building up on the property by this fall so the company can relocate this year. With space and staffing constraints, the company can only take on orders it knows it can fill, he said.

“We have to be out (of Old Orchard Beach) within a year,” he said. “If we don’t fill orders, people won’t order again.”

Kate’s Homemade Butter started in 1981 primarily as a way for Patry’s wife, Karen, to stay home with their children. The zoning board of appeals approved the home business on Jan. 27, 1981, under rules that require the business to be staffed primarily by family members.

The following year, the board allowed the company to build a garage and install all of its butter-making equipment in the new space. Kate’s Butter was licensed by the town as a wholesaler/manufacturer business in 2003 and is legally nonconforming, according to Town Planner Gary Lamb.

In August 2009, the town issued the company a building permit for a 14-by-16-foot building addition to house a 6,000-gallon tank. Code Enforcement Officer Mike Nugent said the permit was issued as an accessory to a previously permitted home occupation and required the addition exterior to appear “residential in design and construction.”

Nugent said he will inspect the Kate’s Butter facility this month to ensure it is not exceeding its original approval. If there are violations, he will issue a notice of correction and work with Patry to resolve any issues, he said. Patry said he welcomes the inspection.

Greg Kidd, who lives about 100 feet from the Patry property line, said he is concerned about additions to the company as well as truck traffic in the neighborhood.

“My concern is the town allowed this expansion to go on with no deadline to get out,” he said. “We have an industrial institution that doesn’t belong in our tiny neighborhood.”

Kyle McCormick, a neighbor on Rosedale Avenue, started the Facebook page “BBB: Ban Butter Boy” after becoming frustrated with trucks going to and from Kate’s Butter. He said tanker and box trucks block traffic, making it difficult for neighbors to pass through narrow streets.

“It’s a public safety hazard. What if a fire truck or ambulance needed to go down that road? They wouldn’t be able to get past,” he said. “The butter is great, but it shouldn’t be here anymore.”

Ward McGovern, who lives two streets away from Kate’s Butter on Shorewood Drive, said he is probably one of the biggest fans of the butter, but feels trucks from the facility block traffic and damage the roads.

“I have no problem with his butter, I just have a problem with his location,” he said.

Kidd spoke at a council meeting last month and asked town staff to look at issues with Kate’s Butter. In response to his concerns, Councilor Mike Tousignant asked town staff to provide more information about the facility, including when Patry plans to relocate.

Tousignant said it his job as a councilor to look into any complaints from residents.

“Any citizen that comes to the podium is going to be heard,” he said. “What we’re really trying to find out is when they’re going to be moving, what’s holding it up.”

Kidd’s comments to the council were not the first Tousignant has heard about the facility. He said he understands why neighbors don’t want large trucks passing through their streets, but the town also can’t kick Patry out because his business is legal.

“The butter factory is exceeding its ability to operate in that neighborhood at this time,” Tousignant said. “His operation is probably not in the best location.”

Patry never imagined his company would grow from producing 300 pounds of butter each year to distributing 1 million pounds of butter west to the Mississippi River and as far south as Georgia. The family’s dairy heritage dates back to the early 1900s in Minot and Patry learned how to churn butter using his grandfather’s recipe.

Patry credits the success of his business to hard work and dedication to the slow-churn process, which he said produces an old-fashioned flavor. The company developed a recipe for traditional buttermilk – which is not made from skim milk like most brands – that has been popular since its debut last year, he said.

Patry said business has increased “tremendously” because of the company’s success in national competitions and the increasing popularity of the buy-local movement. After the buttermilk won first place for innovative product at the World Dairy Expo, demand for the product went through the roof, he said.

“It blew it right out of the water,” he said.

After nearly 30 years in the family home, Patry recognizes it is time to move on. He said he has always stayed in touch with neighbors and talked to them about their concerns.

“To have done what we have done for 30 years, we had to be considerate,” he said.

Still, Patry said he was surprised when Kidd approached the council and when other neighbors voiced concern about the trucks. Patry said the company has tried to limit the amount of time tanker and box trucks spend at the house, where his son still lives. It takes about 15 minutes for trucks to load or unload at the facility, he said.

“I don’t blame them one bit, I really don’t,” Patry said. “It’s grown to the point it shouldn’t be in a residential district.”

Patry said he is anxious to move not only to alleviate these concerns, but to put to use new manufacturing equipment imported from Europe now stored in a Biddeford warehouse. The equipment will allow the company to produce three sticks of butter per second and pack 60 cases of butter per minute.

Though he is excited to set up his new dairy in Arundel, Patry said he is sad to leave Old Orchard Beach, where he was unable to find enough open land.

“There was nothing in town that really fit what we wanted to do. I really didn’t want to leave, but sales are pushing us. We have to do something,” he said. “The town of Old Orchard Beach has been really good to me and so have our neighbors.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.