Proposed filling station denied
WAYNESBURG – Greene County Court this week affirmed a decision by Jefferson-Morgan Multi-Municipal Zoning Hearing Board denying a special exemption to a company that proposed building a water tanker filling station on Route 188 near Jefferson.
Bell’s Bridge LLP filed an application with the zoning board more than two years ago, proposing to construct the filling station just west of Jefferson for tankers trucks hauling water to natural gas well sites.
The zoning board twice held hearings on the plan and twice denied the requests for the special exemption. Each time, the matter was appealed to the court.
On the most recent appeal, the court held oral argument last October and conducted a site visit in December. On Friday, Senior Visiting Judge Hiram A. Carpenter III issued a lengthy opinion and order affirming the board’s decision.
The board argued, among other things, Bell’s Bridge failed to show the project would not substantially detract from the use of neighboring properties or from the neighborhood’s character.
Residents who opposed the plan spoke at zoning hearings of safety concerns from increased truck traffic on Route 188 in an area within 300 yards of the highway entrance to Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Sight distances for trucks entering and exiting the highway from the station would be limited, they said.
The area would also be impacted by increased noise from trucks using the station. The company indicated the station, capable of handling 17 trucks per hour, would be open 24 hours a day.
Though testimony at the hearing was “lay opinion,” the judge wrote, it was apparent certain “undeniable realities” faced the board in making its decision.
The court cited both the increase in noise and the limited sight lines for traffic entering or exiting the station, given the station would be located just over a crest in the hill.
The court also said nothing presently existing in the neighborhood could be called a “regular destination” for heavy trucks exiting or entering the highway.
“…(B)ecause nothing like this water station presently exists, the board’s ‘creation’ of these issues by approval does potentially change the character of the neighborhood,” the judge wrote.
Bell’s Bridge argued the neighborhood would be unaffected by the station and noted trucks using the site already pass by it to use water stations east of Jefferson.
It further maintained the station could actually reduce the number of trucks passing through Jefferson. Trucks haul water to well sites west of Jefferson from filling stations to the east would no longer have to pass through Jefferson or in front of Jefferson-Morgan high school, it said.
The company also argued traffic safety issues were addressed by the state Department of Transportation, which inspected the site and issued a highway occupancy permit for vehicles to enter and exit the highway at that location.
While the company addressed the board’s concerns, “the board clearly believed the negatives were too great,” the court said.
“Reviewing the board’s decision in the light of the applicable standard and the evidence before it, we are unable to fairly conclude the board’s action in finding the character of the neighborhood was changed in a way that was not adequately protected was, in fact, arbitrary and capricious or a manifest abuse of the board’s discretion,” the court concluded.
Dave Pollock, attorney for Bell’s Bridge, declined comment Friday, saying he had not yet been provided with the opinion.