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Propane storage tank discussed for Town of Callicoon

Kathy Daley - Reporter/Photographer
Posted 1/23/20

JEFFERSONVILLE — Town of Callicoon officials are wrestling with how to regulate projects that were not an issue until now - take the host of large commercial solar farms that have expressed …

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Propane storage tank discussed for Town of Callicoon

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JEFFERSONVILLE — Town of Callicoon officials are wrestling with how to regulate projects that were not an issue until now - take the host of large commercial solar farms that have expressed interest in moving into town, or the raft of new guest houses springing up here and there on private property.

For example, what constitutes a bona fide guest house, questioned town code inspector Kevin Zieres

“A shed with a bed and two lamps?” he joked.

Zieres' comment prompted chuckles from an audience of about 15 people at a Jan. 16 joint workshop of the town board, planning board and zoning board.

But it was no laughing matter that drew some of the residents to Town Hall on Legion Street. Their concerns revolved around what they worried was a reinvigorated plan to install a 30,000 gallon propane tank outside the town's Highway Department barn in exchange for fuel savings for the town hall and barn.

“So far, they haven't come up with how much [money] would be saved, what the liability would be for the town, and how they will plow it out in winter and maintain it,” said Tanya Hahn. She and her husband Andy own farmland across the road from the site.

“I don't understand why the town has to be involved in this,” echoed Evelyn Weissmann of Weissmann Farm in Callicoon Center. “There's lots of land in the Town of Callicoon that could be sold for this use. And a propane tank ought to be close to some already heavily used area, not right above the Village of Jeffersonville's water system that might be affected if a spill took place.”

PROPANE: PAIN OR PANACEA

Almost a year ago, Combined Energy Services (CES) of Monticello asked to place a propane tank on the Wahl Road highway department property off Callicoon Center Road. In return, the town would receive a new gas heating system with free annual maintenance at the town hall; propane necessary to heat the town hall; and up to 2,500 gallons annually to heat the town's highway building.

CES, owned by the Taylor family, delivers propane, fuel oil and kerosene throughout the Catskills, Hudson Valley, eastern Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey. The firm sites large propane tanks, which are about the size of mobile homes, in areas close to its customers.

In May, the Hahns filed an Article 78 proceeding, appealing the town's decision and preventing the town from moving forward. CES then withdrew its application.

Now, said Town Supervisor Tom Bose this week, there is no specific proposal for a propane storage tank in town. But he hopes that will change.

“If we're lucky enough to have an energy supplier who wants to propose a plan to provide the town with cost savings, we are definitely looking at it,” Bose said.

To that end, the town is seeking to specify conditions under which “bulk energy storage,” referring to pro­pane, gasoline, diesel fuel and electricity, would be permitted. For years, Bose pointed out, underground gas storage has been the norm at gas stations throughout the town.

The town supervisor said bulk energy storage could be a conditional use in three of the town's districts: Rural, Rural Business, and Conservation.

An applicant would come before the planning board to discuss the project and secure a special use permit. If the Planning Board determines the plan to be appropriate, conditions on it might include the demand for setbacks (a distance from a property line within which building is prohibited), and for screening the project with vegetation or by painting it in earth tones.

Bose says the highway department property is an appropriate setting for a propane tank. The 10-foot-high tank would stretch into a 10-foot-by-70-foot cleared area at the northern end of the property on Wahl Road.

“There would be very few trucks in and out of there,” Bose said, “and our own town trucks, about 10 of them, are already in and out.”

Assisting the planning and zoning boards as they draft regulations for this and other various amendments to the town's zoning will be community planner Nan Stolzenburg. Based in Schoharie County, Stolzenburg works on a per diem basis. In 2009, she assisted the towns of Callicoon, Delaware, Bethel and Liberty in drafting and implementation a Farmland Preservation Plan. Several years ago, she helped with the update the Town of Callicoon's Comprehensive Plan.

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