Stockbridge — Following three sessions covering an appeal by residents regarding a propane facility adjacent to their home, Stockbridge Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Thomas Schuler announced February 28 that the parties are trying to settle the dispute on their own and cut the meeting to about a minute in length. However, he set March 6 at 7 p.m. to reconvene should those negotiations not pan out.
“The parties are pretty close to resolving the dispute, and both parties requested that this matter be continued,” Schuler said.
Should the agreement come to fruition, appellants Stephanie and David Adler would withdraw their appeal of a decision made by the town’s building commissioner, the basis of their appeal.
The Adlers, by themselves and through their attorney Nicholas Arienti, allege the propane facility next door morphed from a supplemental gas business permitted to operate 24 days annually into a propane depot providing customers with the natural gas daily and housing large trucks at all times of the day and night. The allegations focus on the property’s special permits that the Adlers contend are being violated by the ongoing level of activity at the facility and the town’s building commissioner not concluding that violation continues to occur.
The facility is owned by Berkshire Gas Company and is currently leased to Superior Plus Energy Services, with the latter represented by attorney Peter Tamm, who said his clients haven’t expanded the use of the site for propane distribution but only altered the method of that distribution from a gas pipeline to trucks.
Attempts to contact both Arienti and Tamm were not returned by press time. Attorney Bill Martin, who represents Berkshire Gas Company, stated to The Berkshire Edge that his client “is not directly involved in the negotiations and cannot comment.” Tamm responded March 4 that he has “no comment at this time.”
