November 14, 2012 [Patriot Ledger] - Citgo Petroleum Corp. has won town approval to build a 33-foot-tall tank that will store almost 270,000 gallons of biofuel at its Quincy Avenue facility in Braintree.
The town’s planning board voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a site plan review for the project with a number of conditions, including a requirement that the company track the number of trucks coming into the facility after the construction of the tank at Citgo Braintree.
Company representatives have assured the town that the project would have only a “nominal” effect on traffic in the area.
“It makes sense, we get it, but we need to make sure,” board member Darryl Mikami told company representatives Tuesday.
Michael Leon, a Boston lawyer representing Citgo, said the tank would allow the facility to blend its fuel more efficiently but wouldn’t increase its biofuel capacity. He said the company expects to continue to see about 60 truck trips a month tied to biofuel, or two or three a day.
But one nearby resident said any increase in traffic through the neighborhood would be too much. Paul Walsh, a Howard Street resident, said trucks from the facility already clog up nearby Hayward Street, passing the Ross School and several day care facilities.
“To add more vehicles in that neighborhood is unacceptable,” he said.
“If you need, we can get several hundred people to come and sit at these meetings.”
Leon, the attorney for Citgo, said the company already instructs drivers to avoid driving by the Ross School during school hours.
