WESTFIELD – The City Council voted Thursday to continue the public hearing on the petition of Pride Limited Partnership for underground fuel storage tanks at 9 Southampton Road and 33 Southampton Road until the Planning Board has reviewed and voted on the application to construct two fueling stations.
The Planning Board will conduct a public hearing tomorrow night to consider a petition by Pride for a special permit, site plan and stormwater management plan.
Robert Bolduc, CEO of Pride Limited Partnership, appeared before the City Council Thursday night seeking a special permit to install gasoline and diesel storage tanks at the two locations, both located across Southampton Road from Exit 3 of the Massachusetts Turnpike.
The property at Southampton Road is located in the “jug handle” off Southampton Road created to facilitate traffic entering the turnpike exchange, while 33 Southampton Road is property located directly behind the Friendly’s Restaurant. The property belongs to the turnpike, but Bolduc purchased a 99-year lease for the strip of land between the turnpike to the north and the Pioneer Valley Railroad to the south.
Bolduc said he is seeking City Council special permits to install gasoline and diesel storage tanks, which will hold 41,000 gallons of fuel, for a facility that will include a convenience store and restaurants inside the jug handle at 9 Southampton Road and 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel at a truck stop to be constructed across Friendly Way at 33 Southampton Road.
Bolduc said he is also negotiating with the Westfield Gas & Electric Department to bring a natural gas supply to the 33 Southampton Road facility where it will be compressed into liquefied natural gas, an alternative truck fuel.
Bolduc said the LNG facility will cost $1.25 million to construct, but will be the only LNG supply source between Boston and New York. Bolduc said the LNG cost half as much as diesel fuel and is 14 times cleaner.
“We’ve spend well over two years and thousands of dollars working with the State DOT (Department of Transportation), MDEP (Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection) and the city’s Engineering Department,” Bolduc said. “The experts are quite happy with it.”
“This will bring people off the highway,” Bolduc said. “It will bring business into Westfield.”
The majority of the diesel fuel storage will be at the 33 Southampton Road truck stop, but there will be a smaller supply at 9 Southampton Road for passenger vehicles which use that fuel.
Several councilors expressed concern about the impact of the current traffic pattern around the jug handle and that the access and exit lanes from the Pride station will exasperate that pattern.
“I’m very concerned about the traffic impact,” At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty said. “I can’t imagine having this station in the middle of that pattern. It’s a very, very busy area now.”
At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean, at the request of Council President Brian Sullivan, made the motion to continue the council’s underground fuel storage tank public hearing until after the Planning Board has closed its hearing and voted on the permits requested by Pride. That motion was unanimously supported by the council members.
