CLINTON - It was a packed room on June 2 as residents from both Clinton and Madison showed up at the Clinton Town Hall to voice their opinions on a proposed propane storage facility along the Hammonasset River.

The Planning & Zoning Commission public hearing was for the proposed application for a wholesale propane distribution facility at 140 Knollwood Drive. The application is being proposed by Global Companies, LLC, a large wholesale distributor of fossil fuels to wholesalers, retailers, and commercial customers in the New England states and New York. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

According to the application, Global Companies, LLC, wants to build a wholesale propane distribution plant on approximately six acres of the 37-acre site on Knollwood Drive, which was once the Stanley Bostitch plant. The propane would be delivered by rail and stored in 12, 45,000-gallon tanks. The facility would operate from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., six days a week, supplying propane to up to 20 delivery trucks a day during peak hours in the winter. Traffic would diminish during the lower-demand summer months.

Global, LLC, explained that there would be fewer than two trucks per hour leaving the site and the business would bring in approximately $100,000 in tax revenue for Clinton.

The property is in a zone where the proposed use is permitted as a special exception and no variances are required. The property, which is contaminated as a result of years of manufacturing, has been vacant now for several years.

Environmental attorney Diane Whitney, representing Global, LLC, said that Global's plan for the property is consistent with the Town of Clinton Plan of Conservation and Development, which calls for the concentration of new industrial development on previous developed sites.

"This property is unused and zoned properly for this use," said Whitney.

Residents from both Clinton and Madison voiced their opposition to the application, citing reduction in property values, noise pollution, and safety as their biggest concerns.

Interveners from Madison have formed the Hammonasset Environmental Trust as a way to protest this application and have filed an official motion against the proposal.

"I am just really nervous. I don't think this should be here," said Clinton resident Michelle Zawadski, who is concerned about her family's safety due to the increase in traffic.

Clinton Fire Marshal Frank Schremp and Deputy Fire Marshal Jeffrey Heser wrote a letter to the Planning & Zoning Commission in March stating, "We have been kept up to date and in the loop regarding the Global LP project and at this time, the fire marshal and he deputy fire marshal have no comments or concerns."

The public hearing on the proposal has been continued to Monday, July 7 at 7 p.m. at the Clinton Town Hall.