Paraco aims to get 'back on track'

PINE PLAINS — Representatives from Paraco Gas attended the last Planning Board meeting Wednesday, April 8, to clarify the process of installing an additional 30,000-gallon storage tank on their site.

Michael Digiorgio, director of transportation and safety operations at Paraco, and Katherine Dewkett, the project’s engineer, sat down with the board to discuss matters. Planning Board Chairman Don Bartles described the meeting as an attempt to “get the process back on track.�

Paraco representatives first came to the board with their proposal about a year ago. The board began a site plan review, but many residential concerns about odors from the propane tanks and general noise associated with loading and unloading put the project on hold.

Discussions at the last meeting were not a part of the public hearing, Bartles said, which has yet to be formally closed.

It was Dewkett’s first time before the board and she said she needed clarification as to what exactly the board wanted from Paraco. There has been confusion dealing with the town’s engineer, she said, about issues like parking, landscaping and drainage.

Bartles said the board would sit down with Town Engineer Ray Jurkowski to discuss his recommendations, but that the applicant shouldn’t be pre-emptively addressing these issues before plans are finalized, as they have done in the past.

There was also discussion about where the property owned by Paraco ends. A neighbor attended the meeting and said that the land had been surveyed in 1990, and the map showed that part of the driveway Paraco currently uses is on his property. He said he is speaking with his attorney and is considering having it blocked soon.

Dewkett said Paraco’s surveyor had not been able to determine who owns what.

“If two surveyors are making different claims, then it’s a court issue,� Bartles said.

While there are no safety issues associated with another tank, Planning Board member Sarah Jones said she was concerned about fumes created during loading and unloading.

Another concern raised was whether or not Paraco lets other companies use its facilities. Digiorgio initially replied it doesn’t, but when board member Bruce Pecorella said he had seen at least two other companies at the site, Digiorgio did not reply.

Discussion will continue after the board meets with Jurkowski.

Stewart’s public hearing

The public hearing for Stewart’s Shops remained open at the end of the meeting, as unresolved issues involving the store’s sign, landscaping and easement for an adjoining property have not yet been resolved.

Carvel looking

to move forward

Dan Stone, principal engineer for the Chazen Companies, represented The Durst Organization during a brief discussion at the end of the meeting.

The Carvel project is looking to begin work to address issues brought up by DEIS public hearings. The board agreed that the consultants could draft a list of issues that will need to be addressed by the applicant in the future.

Consultant Nan Stoltzenburg said she hoped the list would mean “more up front work and coordination� between the applicant and the town, and that it would produce “a more comprehensive analysis and study so [the applicant has] clearer expectations.�

The list would not be a definitive list and the consultants would be working at the applicant’s expense.