Oct 22, 2014 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – A local wholesale distributor of gasoline and other fuels again asked the Waynesburg Zoning Hearing Board to approve the installation of a 30,000 gallon propane storage tank on property on Waynesburg’s south side.

Stuck Enterprises Inc. first asked the board to approve a special exception to install the tank at the corner of Washington and First streets, the site of the former Grover C. Hughes Hardware Store. The board denied the exception during a hearing Oct. 6.

The company recently filed a new application with the zoning board seeking the special exception to install the tank now on property it owns that is across First Street from the Grover C. Hughes property.

“We would still like to do the project, do it safely and do it right,” said Steve Stuck, president of the family-owned, Waynesburg-based company.

The company hopes moving the location of the tank farther away from any residential area will help address any concerns the board might have about the project, he said.

Borough code enforcement officer Bryan Cumberledge said the same conditions applied to the first application will apply to the new application.

Both sites are in an area designated M-1 Manufacturing. A special exception is needed because the proposed use involves wholesale distribution and warehousing of hazardous or toxic substances, other than those that would normally be used on site, he said.

The zoning board will hold a hearing on the new application at 7 p.m. Nov. 3.

The tank will be used to store propane gas which the company will distribute to area residential and commercial customers, including those in the growing oil and gas industry.

Stuck Enterprises currently operates a similar propane distribution operation in Oakland, Md. It also operates a bulk liquid fuel operation across Washington Street from the proposed site, which was in existence more than 50 years.

The company never had a problem at either the Maryland propane site or the bulk fuel site, Stuck said. The proposed operation would create 7 to 10 jobs for truck drivers, technicians and office and management staff, the application said.

During the hearing earlier this month, Stuck said safety would be the highest priority in the operation of the facility.

Matthew Hiltz, owner of Hiltz Propane Systems, which was hired to install the tank and equipment, also testified on the safety features on the one-inch thick steel tank and of the strict requirements that would have to be met to receive state Department of Labor and Industry certification for the site.

Several people at the hearing had questions about the plan, one noting the site was about a block and half away from Margaret Bell Miller Middle School. Stuck said, however, he met with school officials earlier to discuss the project and they were not oppose to the plan.

When asked if anyone at the hearing wished to make a statement for or against the project, no one responded.

A motion to approve the special exception failed in 2-2 vote. Board chairman Adam Chapman, who with Eric Rush voted against it, said he was concerned about the tank being close to the school and to residents on the south side.

Though the installation would have safety features, and the chances of anything happening were slim “all it takes is one time” for something to happen, he said. “There’s too much of a risk.”