LAKE PLACID — A Lake Placid-based fuel company, Hurley Bros., is seeking approval from the town-village Joint Review Board to use a property off Cascade Road as a fuel storage facility.

The company plans to use 5708 Cascade Road, on land in a mostly commercial area near the airport, to store a 30,000-gallon, 48-by-12-foot fuel storage tank, according to the company’s project application. More tanks could be added in the future.

If the requested conditional use is approved by the review board, site work would begin this fall, the tank would be installed next spring and the facility would be operational starting next summer, according to the project application.

Hurley Bros. had previously planned to open a new storage facility on a different property in Lake Placid. In 2019, the company asked the review board for authorization to use a property at 132 Old Military Road for the same purpose. Some of the neighbors who lived nearby weren’t happy about the proposal. Ultimately, one of the opponents of the plan, K. Jon Runstrom, a resident of the neighboring Balsams at Lake Placid housing community and treasurer of its homeowners’ association, purchased the parcel after hearing the land was still on the market. After Runstrom purchased the land, the company withdrew its proposal from consideration before the review board.

Members of the review board plan to visit the new proposed site in person. A public hearing on the project is scheduled for the board’s first meeting in September. The review board usually meets at 5:30 p.m. on the first/third Wednesdays of each month.

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More on the project

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The fuel company doesn’t plan to construct any new buildings on Cascade Road, according to a letter to the review board from Hurley Bros.

“The lot is an existing lot of record with two existing structures on it, one is a log cabin used as a residence and the second is a garage/storage building,” the letter states.

The facility — and the storage tank — would be similar to one on Old Ray Brook Road in Ray Brook, according to Hurley Bros. co-owner Bill Hurley, who is a former chairman of the review board.

Hurley told the review board at its meeting Wednesday that the garage is “not liveable,” and the log cabin will be kept on site and could be used as a residence in the future. He said there are trees all along the property line and the facility wouldn’t be able to be seen from Recycle Circle Lane, where the town’s transfer station is. He added that both Christopher Ericson, owner of the nearby Big Slide Brewery, and Barbara Dwyer, an accountant with an office nearby, were both already aware of his company’s proposal.

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Traffic, fire safety

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Hurley also spoke about the expected traffic impact on Cascade Road.

Most trucks would come from the south, not using any town or village roads. About a third of trucks would come from the north using either Old Military Road or another county or state road, according to the project application. The company expects the facility to be “idle” 96% of the time, with some noise from trucks either loading or unloading for a total of 285 hours per year; trucks unloading for around two hours a day and loading for 15 to 30 minutes.

There will be “no combustible material within 25 feet” of the storage tank, according to the project application. A fire safety analysis will be filed.

“There are six of these plants within 15 miles of this location and all have a superb safety record,” a letter from the company reads. “They are designed, built and equipped with redundant safety equipment, rigorous inspection schedules and maintenance programs.”

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(A previous version of this story incorrectly said the fuel storage facility in Ray Brook is owned by Hurley Bros. It’s owned by Hyde Fuel. The Enterprise regrets the error.)