ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – The company behind a proposed “fuel farm” in Ormond Beach, is sharing its thoughts, following protests from residents and city leaders.
The proposed site off U.S. 1 and Hull Road would potentially store several million gallons of fuel as part of a fuel distribution system the company, Belvedere Terminals, wants to create throughout the state.
“This is all somewhat new and we’re listening. We want to make sure people understand what we’re building,” said Tim Schwarz, chief financial officer for Belvedere.
The property sits just outside of Ormond Beach city limits.
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“It’s on 20 to 30 acres of property but we only use about a fifth of that to buffer the surrounding area,” said Schwarz.
There aren’t blueprints, renderings, or approved building permits from the county yet for it. Schwarz said they are in the very early stages of planning. He said right now, they have an air quality permit approved from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
That permit stated the company could build up to 16 tanks that would hold roughly 20 million gallons of fuel but Schwarz said it would not be that big.
“It’s three tanks, about 300,000 barrels of storage. That’s all we’re building,” he said.
Safety concerns have led to protests from hundreds of residents whose homes and businesses surround the area since catching word of it in August.
“The entire facility is covered with a non-permeable membrane underneath so nothing could leak into the groundwater,” said Schwarz.
Despite hearing these vocalized plans from the company, Mayor Bill Partington said he’s still going to fight it.
“They have never, even to this day, presented a specific plan that shows what they’re intending to do and that’s probably a big part of the problem,” he said.
The city voted last month to not provide utilities or water to the company.
A local company, with the help of the city, also filed a petition challenging the company’s air quality permit. The petition cited inadequate public notice. The company went to a smaller, local publication, “Hometown News,” to announce their plans. The petition said not enough people saw it.
“It’s still an inappropriate use for the surrounding area, unfortunately. The way this property developed, 40 years ago it might have been appropriate but today it just doesn’t work,” said Partington.
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