To the editor:
Last week’s letter by Judy Dredge decrying the current application to locate a gasoline service station on northbound Route 1 near Raymond Road was full of extravagant exaggeration and devoid of honest treatment of the facts.
I am the attorney for the applicant and, even given that status, I can be 1,000 times more objective in discussing the facts of this matter than was Ms. Dredge. I am happy to report that the sky is not falling.
Ms. Dredge began by attempting to rouse the passions of your unsuspecting readers by falsely labeling the proposed gas station a "diesel truck stop." The application actually proposes a typical gas station/convenience store, which includes four diesel fuel pumps.
There are no parking spaces for tractor-trailers, no shower or sleeping facilities, no sit down food service facilities and no weigh station. Anyone who knows what a truck stop is, knows that this is not a truck stop.
She then tried to inflame the passions by falsely asserting that this proposal would "destroy all property values" in town, without mentioning that there already is a gas station serving diesel fuel across the street on the southbound side of Route 1 at Raymond Road, even closer to Ms. Dredge’s home. Presumably, "all property values" were already "destroyed" for the properties off Raymond Road in the last three years since this station has operated without incident? If the sky didn’t fall then, why would it fall now?
Ms. Dredge claims to fear a vast influx of truck traffic if the proposal is implemented. In reality, the station would overwhelmingly serve the existing traffic, both trucks and automobiles, already using Route 1. Trucks now using Route 130 and Route 27 will continue to be served by the existing diesel fuel facilities on those roads.
Ms. Dredge cavalierly suggested that the trucks on Route 1 should divert to the "Mobil station on Route 130 by Georges Road" to get fuel, with no expression of concern for the residents of the neighborhoods they would cross to get there. So much for her professed concern for other homeowners.
It would be best if all of our main highways had facilities to service the vehicles that travel on them. It would also be best if matters of public interest were addressed dispassionately and honestly, without resort to the tools of the propagandist’s trade.
Kenneth P. Fee
Attorney
Kendall Park
