Mill River Gas Station Not Pumping … Yet

You won’t be able to buy gas yet down by the Mill River, but four new pumps beneath a 17-foot canopy are likely coming soon, if the developer does a little more homework.

Plans to add the gas station and convenience store to an existing business just 200 feet from the Mill River and across from Criscuolo Park in Fair Haven were reviewed at a public hearing before the City Plan Commission Wednesday night.

The proposal is to add a convenience store, along with four gas pumps pumping atop four 6,000-gallon underground tanks, onto the three-quarter-acre lot at 281 – 289 Chapel St.

Concrete Creations, a business currently located there, would continue operating. The store and pumps would be situated at the western edge of the property and would include a former railroad right of way that the owner Ralph Mauro recently acquired.

Commissioners were awaiting more information, such as driveway and sidewalk construction specifics, before voting on the plan.

City Engineer Dick Miller honed in on the railroad tracks, some of which are still visible on Chapel Street leading into the property. Miller asked if the tracks on the property itself had been removed.

Engineer Robert Criscuolo, representing the owner, said he did not know.

Miller said he should: ​“Those railroad tracks are [laden with] creosote, potential contamination. I’d look into that.”

“I will,” said Criscuolo, who added that the plan includes removing the tracks that are currently visible.

The plan, which calls for the four new pumps beneath a canopy to be located a minimum of 13 feet from the street line, has already received the approval of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

When Criscuolo supplies the additional information, the plan returns to the City Plan Commission for a certificate of approval for this new use.

That is scheduled to happen at the Aug. 21 City Plan meeting, if there is a quorum; or at the first meeting in the fall, Sept. 18.