Milford P&Z OKs Big Y gas station

MILFORD — Customers at Big Y will soon be able to not only fill their shopping carts but also their vehicle’s gas tank. Milford’s Planning and Zoning Board last week approved a plan for a fueling station at the Big Y located at 150 Boston Post Road. “Big Y is looking to redevelop the portion of the existing parking lot and convert it into an Express Big Y fueling station,” said Ryan Scrittorale, Alfred Benesch & Company engineer. “The primary area we are focusing on is the southerly portion of the parking lot. “The goal of the design was to minimize the disturbance to the supermarket operations and still provide value to its customers,” Scrittorale added. The proposal consists of minimal site work to add two 20,000 gallon underground storage tanks, a small 260-square-foot kiosk, and a 26-foot by 124-foot canopy with eight fueling stations underneath. Due to the gas station, the parking spaces will go down by 22, from 282 to 260, but Scrittorale said the store still exceeds the minimum required parking spaces. “Deliveries for the fueling operations are going to occur during off-peak hours not to disrupt the operations of the supermarket and the express fueling station,” he added. Scrittorale said all the fueling components will be modern, and they will be monitored by the attendant and the monitoring systems. “Every component that Big Y puts in has leak detection,” said Scrittorale. “There is an alarm that goes off in case any sort of subsequent leak that might happen from the system itself. Also, if anyone accidentally drives off with the hose in their car, it would shut off the valve, immediately stopping fuel from moving and continually flowing.” Additionally, the proposal calls to relocate the accessible parking spaces to be moved to the north of Big Y. “We are subsequently removing one space, but we had an extra handicap space per the allotment that we needed. So we are still meeting all requirements for ADA compliance,” said Scrittorale. Robert Satti (D-3) asked if the moving of the accessible spaces would be harder to get into because of the new location. “No, we just shifted them to the other section that was already handicap allotted,” said Scrittorale. “Essentially, there was additional striping there, and it was extra space that we were able to utilize. So it doesn't increase the distance by any means.” And because Big Y is designed for all emergency vehicles to make it around the building with ease, Scritoralle said emergency vehicles would have no problems reaching the fuel station. “We actually ran tankers through the internal parking lots for our original design, so we know emergency vehicles can get around the kiosk area and have clearance to get underneath the canopy,” he said.

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