Biofuel Plant Upgrade Needs ZBA Approval to Move Forward

A project at Enterprise Park at Calverton, aimed at taking advantage of a , will remain in the hands of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals despite a desire of Supervisor Sean Walter to seek an area variance from the Town Board and approve the project.

The project, put forth by Metro Biofuels - which celebrated a  - calls for transferring one 250,000-gallon fuel tank to the end of the rail spur, which was paid for with federal stimulus funding. The 250,000-gallon tank will sit next to two larger tanks sized at 350,000 each, so the biofuel company can haul its product out via freight from Brooklyn for distribution on Long Island.

A requirement for a variance, according to the town's Planning Department, revolves around the proximity of a surrounding containment dike - installed around the fuel tanks to protect the environment in case any of them spill in an emergency - to the edge of the property.

Town code requires setbacks of 75, 39, and 50 feet in the front, side, and rear yards on the Metro property. The project places the containment tank within 49, 15, and 16 feet of the property lines. However it was unclear if a containment dike legally qualifies as a structure. Walter said the town doesn't regulate concrete.

"I don't think you're going to have a problem," Walter said. "If you have go to the ZBA, you have to go to the ZBA. I think you'll be in and out."

Vic Prusinowski, a former town councilman who is serving as a land use consultant to Metro, said he didn't see a problem with submitting the Metro site plan to the ZBA, though said in an interview on Thursday that the town should consider the industrial core of EPCAL when making its decisions.

"The development statues in the industrial development zone should meet the reality of developing in an industrial area," he said. "This is an industrial development park. It's supposed to be an economic generator."

Metro Principal Paul Pullo said that sending his biofuel out to Calverton via freight allows his company to ship 400,000 gallons of biodiesel per shipment, as opposed to 10,000 gallons per truckload. 

"This gets trucks off the road and allows us to sell our product at a better price for the consumer," he said.

While Walter said he would seek Town Board approval to waive the setbacks if he could, Town Attorney Bob Kozakiewicz, after researching the matter, determined that based on past precedent the project should seek ZBA approval first.

Kozakiewicz said State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Whelan overruled a number of variances roughly five years ago that Head River LLC received from Town Board approval for its Route 58 Wal-Mart project.