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How green was their valley…

Hydrofracking sites scattered around the Upper Green River Valley, Wyoming.      Onondaga County could look like this, too.

To be brief, the proposal is for a Sunoco gas station with its usual A-Plus convenience store, plus space for three more businesses. Mr. Wolniak assured the audience that they had, over the years, tried out a variety of ways to site the buildings. Limited by the requirements of Sunoco to make the signs and the pumps visible, the businesses can’t front onto James St.

Some concerns were raised, among them the feasibility of having two gas stations within a quarter mile of each other. One person said, “We’ll end up with an empty gas station,” in reference to the Mobil Station, “instead of an empty lot.” Others were concerned about the new traffic patterns created by two entrances from James St.  One already exists but is not used, and the other, even closer to Midler, would be the largest one and would be new.

Mr. Wolniak said that a traffic study has been done that indicates that 35,000 cars per day go by on James St. and 19,000 per day on Midler. However, no traffic study focused on the new use of curb cuts on James has been done yet. It was indicated that there is a tenant lined up for the convenience store but not for the other three shops.

Common Councilor Kathleen Joy pointed out that there will be many more opportunities for public input, since they will need a special permit for the gas station and waivers of the design guidelines.

Site plan: James St. and Midler Ave. southwest corner

View from James Street

View from Midler Ave