Archive: Business & Technology

A special permit for a fueling station that will be the first in Tompkins County to include fueling for electric cars was approved by the Village of Lansing Planning Board Tuesday.  That paved the way for developers to apply for a building permit once the conditions of the special permit are met.

The fueling station is an addition to a Planned Development Area (PDA) zoning law previously passed by Village officials.  It will take away some of the parking spaces previously approved for the BJ's project, replacing them with a six-dispenser gas station, a kiosk and two electric fueling points.  The state of the art 480v charging stations will be capable of fueling an electric car within a half hour.  Triax Principal Partner Eric Goetzmann says this will be the first electric fueling station in Tompkins County.  

At the same meeting the Village Board of Trustees voted a new local law that permits a 'members only fueling station' at the site of a new BJ's Wholesale Club facility at the Shops at Ithaca Mall.  Allowing that use was a prerequisite to the Planning Board's approval of the special permit.  Both were voted on at the special meeting to help facilitate the developers' ability to complete construction in the current construction season.

Drake Petroleum's Conrad Decker questioned the thoroughness of the process Village officials are filtering the project through.  He said that what he had seen resembled a sketch plan without details necessary to review for a project of this kind.  He questioned whether issues of storm water management, safety, traffic impact, and other issues had been sufficiently reviewed.  He said there has been more detail provided on the electric fueling component than on te underground gasoline tanks and dispensing equipment.  Drake Petroleum owns the Lansing Xtramart, among many others in the northeast United States.

"What I've seen so far is pretty much a sketch plan review," Decker said.  "It's not really a detailed, formal site plan approval.  With six dispensers and 12 fueling positions this is a high volume gas station design."

Village Attorney David Dubow said the plan had been submitted to the Tompkins County Planning Department for review, and they had responded that they did not anticipate any inter-community or county-wide effects, and that they would not have additional comments regarding the fuel pumps.

Village Engineer Brent Cross said that many of the issues were reviewed in detail when the original PDA was approved, and that other details and drawings would have to be forthcoming before a building permit is issued.  Cross said that he thinks 12 gas fueling positions is more than is needed.  He noted that there are not even 12 fueling positions total at the two existing gas stations in the Village.

BJ's representative Peter Hopley said that BJ's exceeds safety requirements, uses state of the art equipment, and prides itself on an excellent safety record.  He said that the company is now building eight-dispenser gas stations at new stores, making the six-dispenser station here relatively smaler, a size the company feels will best serve its members.

"We are a very risk-adverse company," he said.  "We are proud of our record in terms of the quality of our facilities and the engineering that goes into the details of that facility."

After the public hearings, Trustees approved the local law unanimously, after which the Planning Board approved the special permit with conditions attached.  BJ's is scheduled to open next January.

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