The planning process for a gas station proposed for Youngs Avenue and Route 48 in Southold will now take a bit longer, after a determination by the board yesterday.
Yesterday, the planning board voted to issue a positive declaration for the state environmental quality review act, or SEQRA, for the amended site plan for the project, a proposed conversion of the existing 3,476 square foot building, formerly used for vehicle detailing, RV sales and servicing, to a convenience store and vehicle fuel sales.
Proposed are six fuel pumps, with 12 fueling stations, two canopies, one at 50′ x 24′, or 1,200 square feet, and the other at 50′ x 50′, or 2,500 square feet, along with 29 parking spaces on 1.46 acres in the general business zoning district. The parcel is located at 45450 County Road 48 in Southold.
The positive declaration, which Planning Board Chair Donald Wilcenski said isn’t issued all too often, means that the project could have significant impacts to the environment, traffic, noise, quality of life, and light.
The town has taken lead agency on the SEQRA review. What the positive declaration means is that studies will now be undertaken, including a traffic study, which Wilcenski said is important. The additional studies will add time to the planning process, he said.
Before the planning board meeting, at a work session yesterday, Wilcenski said a public hearing was held and adjourned. The positive declaration was issued based on “potential” impacts, including light, noise, and traffic on the community and the environment, he said.
Attorney Charles Cuddy, representing the applicant, said the decision was “not welcome, but we understand.”
In August, a crowd packed Southold Town Hall for the planning board public hearing on the proposed project, which would be located where East End Campers – Tidy Car now sits, on the northwest corner of the intersection.
At the hearing, Cuddy said general business is the only zoning designation that allows for a gas station. He added that currently, there’s only one gas station in the hamlet of Southold.
Cuddy also said he and his client believe that the intersection, with a traffic light, is an appropriate location for a gas station.
The hours of operation — a sticking point in past weeks, as residents expressed fears that the business would be open 24/7 — would be from 5 a.m. until midnight.
In addition, Cuddy said, the plan calls for landscaping and screening, Dark Skies compliant lighting, and drainage.
Youngs Avenue neighbor and member of the Founders Village senior community Carol Bertsch led the steady stream of residents who queued up to the podium to voice their opposition to the project.
Building a gas station at that intersection, Bertsch said, would pose “a clear and present danger” and shatter the rural and open space character of the neighborhood, destroying the well-being of residents.
Crime at gas stations and convenience stores is the “highest priority” of many local law enforcement agencies this year, Bertsch added, stating that any tax revenue won’t cover other major expenditures related to the project, including increased police officers that will be need to protect the community.
Although the installation of a traffic light has led to a decrease in the number of accidents at the intersection, Bertsch believes the new gas station would “increase the number of accidents immeasurably.” Vehicles making a right onto Youngs Avenue would have no way to see a car exiting out onto the same road, she said.
Youngs Avenue, she said, is arguably the most densely populated street in town, with private homes, Founders Village, long-established businesses such as Agway and Burt’s Reliable, the Capitol One bank, the parking lot, and also, Town Hall annex.
“Any accident would prove a catastrophe for the neighborhood. There are not enough ambulances in Southold Town to evacuate all the residents and business owners. I would hate to be the person to decide who to evacuate first, the young children or the wheelchair bound elderly,” Bertsch said.
Also immediately adjacent to the parcel is Peconic Land Trust farmland; any leakage from the fuel tanks would threaten the environment, she said.
The new proliferation of limos and party buses would only add to the dangers, she said.
“Please, I appeal you not to create a dangerous situation where none exists,” Bertsch said.
Her comments were met with loud applause from the crowd.
Founders Village resident John Abele said he worried about cars trying to cut across a two-lane highway and eastbound traffic to turn into the gas station while heading west. He said the BP gas station in Peconic is located at a place where there are four lanes.
“I just think this is the wrong location,” he said.
He added that he found it “ironic” that the goal would be to build a gas station with “flashing lights and signs” right near the Peconic Land Trust property; old trees on the parcel should be allowed to survive, he said.
“People don’t come to Southold to get gas,” said Youngs Avenue resident Philip Ferrato. “But they do come for the scenery.”
Ferrato said he’d like to see the “beautiful building” and site be used for another purpose; he said he did not believe demolishing the building and landscape were the right alternatives.
Melissa Talarico, who also lives on Youngs Avenue, presented the board with a petition signed by nearly 300 opposed to the gas station.
Youngs Avenue is already overburdened, she said, with eighteen-wheelers, tractors headed to Charnews, the Hampton Jitney, limos and buses, as well as normal weekend activities such as individuals jogging, cycling, and walking their dogs.
She agreed about the crime component: “Gas stations are a magnet for crime, including drug dealing and prostitution,” she said. “To introduce crime into this neighborhood would be a crime.”
She added, “Our block is on the tipping point with congestion and traffic. Please consider how traffic and crime will affect us. We want to preserve at least some quality of life in Southold.”
Another resident suggested the board hire a professional to study traffic on the road, stating that a gas station would create a traffic nightmare and unsafe conditions. “It’s just a very scary spot,” she said.
The board voted to adjourn the hearing until results of a traffic study are compiled.
