It's been nearly three years since J.J. Sullivan Inc. of Guilford first proposed a 60,000-gallon bulk propane facility at 40 Ciro Road in North Branford. On March 2, the company's attorney and its experts shared information for two and half hours, as the town's Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) got up to speed and opened its review of the site development plan application.

While the PZC asked questions and six residents had their say, more is expected from all groups concerned when the hearing continues on Thurs. March 9, 7 p.m. at North Branford Intermediate School. The PZC is required to vote on the application by March 17.

As PCZ chairman Harry Dulak noted March 2, he and some other members weren't on the commission in 2014 when the 40 Ciro Road application was originally submitted.  The application was on hold from late 2014 until last month, when a needed inland wetlands permit was approved by the Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

During the March 2 hearing, Dulak encouraged questions. Commissioners inquired about issues including site safety, equipment safety, fire protection systems, emergency response times, impacts of conditions on propane venting or leaks, video surveillance, gate alarms, perimeter fencing, and the number and type of trucks interacting regularly with the facility.

An expert for the applicant, Joe Rose, president of Propane Gas Association of New England, helped explain tank valve triple safety redundancies and other operating system safety procedures and defaults.

Understanding all valves would be closed and the nitrogen operating system shut down nightly, Dulak asked Rose what could happen if the facility was then breached by an intruder.

"If the nitrogen system is shut down, someone would have to go into that facility who understands how the system worked, physically remove the ends of the pipes and open the valves," said Rose.

When Dulak asked if there were any locking mechanisms on the valves, Rose answered there are not; but due to the system and redundancies; they aren't necessary. Rose also quipped, "...hoodlums are more scared of propane," and went on to explain many other facilities safely employ the same operational practices.

"I'm not worried about the other facilities," Dulak answered. "I'm worried about one."

The March 2 hearing drew a crowd of about 70, but some were gone by the time public comments could begin at about 9:45 p.m. Also absent were signs and posters like those displayed by concerned community members at past meetings.  However, the six members of the public who did speak before the PZC (and eight who signed submitted letters of opposition), shared many of the same concerns and sentiments heard before.

But first, applicant attorney Jeffrey Beatty (Guilford) reviewed the 2014 PZC's unanimous approval of text amendments to zoning which were needed to allow the application for bulk propane storage to be made at 40 Ciro Road.

"That text amendment became effective on September 5, 2014. The site development plan application now before you was filed on September 5, 2014," said Beatty. "And although the North Branford zoning regulations regarding the bulk storage of propane have subsequently been amended following the submission of the pending application, it's important to remember that the regulations in effect at the time the application was filed and received; not the regulations that are in effect as of today, are the regulations that must be applied by this commission when considering the application. That's not just my opinion, that's in the Connecticut General State Statutes, section 8-2h(a)."

The subsequent zoning amendment to which Beatty alluded was adopted in March 2015 and places a 5,000-gallon cap and more stringent health and safety requirements on facilities with bulk propane storage for distribution. The PZC approved the amendment on the strength of an application made by citizen Chris Kranick, with assistance from an attorney hired by citizen's group North Branford Citizens Against Bulk Propane Storage (NBCABPS). Last month, NBCABPS also filed a law suit against the town and other defendants. In other legal matters, NBCABPS also is seeking a temporary injunction prohibiting a PZC decision on 40 Ciro Road.

On March 2, Beatty also cautioned the PZC it cannot make a determination using "...concerns about the impact beyond the scope of the application."

"So unless your regulations say you must consider other things, like the impact on traffic at the center of town, for example; then you're not allowed to consider it with regard to this application. The presumption is that at the time the (2014) amendments were adopted by this commission, you were contemplating impacts on traffic, impacts on safety, impacts on property values," said Beatty. "So at the time the amendments were adopted, the presumption is that those were considered; and the decisions were made at the time that bulk storage of propane was a suitable use for this property."

But resident Ellie Michaud, who lives one street away from Ciro Road, told the PZC there are other things to consider.

"We're the citizens, we live here. I feel like it's a done deal; like we don't have a say, and I don't know why you're not hearing us.  I know [the town] is going to get taxes, which is good; but God forbid there ever is an emergency. It will be awful and that will be on your hands. I wish this could be taken some place where there's not a lot of people... I don't want to get blown out of my house," said Michaud.

She urged the PZC to "...vote against this. Even it if meets all the requirements by the law, there's a moral part of this; and it has to do with people, which is more important than taxes."

Resident Bill Savastano talked about the application issues which developed in 2014, saying all the along the way, "...the citizens weren't considered, that's our big contention. Isn't it the commission's duty to keep the best interest of the citizens in mind when they act? That didn't happen in this case. Once the text was changed and voted on, now the word got around to the public [and] all hell broke loose. It got ugly. Citizens Against Bulk Propane Storage had to hire an environmental lawyer to add a text change to put a cap on any other applications, because you guys dropped the ball. You left yourself open," Savastano said. "Imagine, we, as citizens, had to hire our own lawyer to protect ourselves from the town. And we pay taxes, too...we need economic development; but not at this price. Right or wrong, we don't want it. Our farms in this town are for agriculture; not tanks."

Speaking on behalf of his community of 260 seniors at Evergreen Woods, which he noted is within a one-mile emergency evacuation radius of the application site, Paul Schatz said residents were worried when they learned that, rather than be evacuated, the fire department would assist them with a "...defend in place" approach.

"The fundamental issue tonight is not about propane," Schatz said. "It is about what kind of town we want to be. The propane project has gotten as far as it has through corrupt means. This proposed installation should have never been considered by North Branford. It has been rejected by neighboring towns and was only approved here in a disgracefully deceptive way. The project should be permanently terminated."

Kranick told the PZC there's a discrepancy with the state-issued wetlands permit being used for this review, because it's based on an application different from what was originally submitted to the town. Kranick also asked whether the site plan review has a mechanism to limit hours of operation or the amount of trucks using the facility. He also suggested getting comments from the Fire Chief on two valves which malfunctioned at two similar bulk propane facilities in recent years, causing mandatory evacuations for a two-mile radius, including one in Florida.

"I have heard quite a bit about redundant valves and how nothing could happen. Apparently something happened in Florida, resulting in a bleed-off of the pressure, which burns like a jet engine, [and caused] a six-hour evacuation," said Kranick. "I was encouraged that we got into some of these systems and valves [tonight]; but it just seemed like we would want to know what happened in Florida, at exactly the same type of facility, with two 30,000 gallon tanks with exactly the same parameters [set by] NFP58."

The NFP58 gas code is considered the industry benchmark for safe liquid propane-gas storage.

Kranick also said two recent PZC-approved text amendments (a liquor zoning change and a "floating zone" for adult-only communities), each require a special use permit be obtained before an applicant can receive PZC site plan review. Adding the special use permit process allows the commission "much broader discretion" in reviewing an applicant's proposed uses for a property, Kranick said, asking, "...why didn't they require a special use permit for this proposed use?"

"Help me understand what [PZC's] thinking process was when they decided to take a prohibited use and make it a permitted use, by right," Kranick said, adding, "...from what I'm hearing, there's been no chance for the public to speak about the safety and the traffic. Help the citizens understand why they did this."