Planning Board requires traffic study for new Pope's Island marine fueling station project

NEW BEDFORD — A traffic study will be required for a new marine fueling station on Pope’s Island that will fuel vessels working on offshore wind projects. 

No final decisions have been made, but the Planning Board agrees with local business owners that there needs to be a review of the traffic impacts from fuel trucks accessing the new facility to fuel the boats as part of the approval process. 

Two 12,000-gallon aboveground storage tanks are proposed initially, and there are future plans for an additional two 30,000-gallon tanks, according to the plans presented to the Planning Board last week. 

Sea Fuels Marine owner John Liarikos based in New Bedford said there’s a definite need for the traffic study when he questioned the route by which the fuel will be delivered to the fueling station considering the restrictions on traffic over the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge. 

“There definitely needs to be a traffic study done because how are these tractors trailers loaded with 10,000 gallons of fuel are going to access this facility,” he said. “You can’t come over the bridge because of the weight restriction. Which way are they going to go?” 

The Planning Board also wants to ensure that the Fire Department has access to the site and has requested the use of security fencing rather than using chain link, barbed-wire topped fencing as proposed. Approval of the tanks by the state fire marshal’s office is also required. 

In addition to the new construction, a special permit has also been requested to reduce the number of parking spaces from 119 to 65 spaces at the fueling site. Planning Board members also agreed that more green space should be created, with a further reduction in the number of spaces as a possible solution. 

The Planning Board also started site plan review for a change of use by converting Standard Marine Outfitters, TrueValue Hardware and East Coast Fabrication into office and warehouse storage space for future wind energy developer tenants. 

Pare Corporation Vice President Alan Hanscom, representing property owner Michael Quinn, described the plan for the site to the Planning Board, including the changes to the existing buildings. 

Planning Board member Kathryn Duff said it will be even busier in the area with the additional traffic created by the proposed changes, and that also needs to be taken into account when it comes to adding green space. 

The public hearing was continued to June 14. The Planning Board voted to start holding meetings on Zoom again starting June 14. 

What site changes are proposed? 

Quinn, both the property owner and owner of Pope’s Island Resources, LLC, as well as Shoreline Offshore, proposes to construct two floats on the northern side of Pope’s Island for commercial transport vessels to tie-up, maintain and re-fuel.  

Each float will be outfitted with individual fueling stations that will be connected to a proposed onshore fuel storage and distribution terminal.  

The proposed hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week. The site is expected to serve at least 15 customers each day. 

How is Pope’s Island connected to Vineyard Wind? 

In January, Quinn signed a partnership agreement with Vineyard Wind to build out a berthing and fueling area for crew transfer vessels.  

Vineyard Wind agreed to provide $750,000 in funding through its Industry Accelerator Fund co-managed by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to support the acquisition of two floating barges to meet the berthing needs of turbine companies.