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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5093 373 Whites Path Health Dept Memo 02.28.24TOWN OF "YARMOUTH 1146 ROUTE 28, SOUTH YARMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS 02664-4451 Telephone (508) 398-2231 ext. 1240, Fax (508) 760-3472 BOARD OF HEALTH MEMORANDUM TO: Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) FROM: Carl E. Lawson, Jr., Hazardous Waste Inspector C L SUBJECT: ZBA Petition Number 5093 Hearing Date March 14, 2024 Agway of Cape Cod, Warehouse Storage 373 White's Path, Units A, B and C DATE: February 28, 2024 Background Agway of Cape Cod is a lawn, garden, pet, and farm products sales company with retail stores throughout the northeastern United States. Agway stores are independently owned and operated. Mr. Joshua Wile is the president of Agway of Cape Cod with three retail stores located in Chatham, Dennis, and Harwich. 2016 Proposal from Agway of Cape Cod Each Agway of Cape Cod store has limited storage. Additional warehouse storage would allow Agway of Cape Cod to take advantage of special pricing available on larger purchases of certain products. The peak business period occurs from early spring to early summer and during this time the availability of additional stock for the retail stores would help the business in the competitive marketplace. For this reason, Agway of Cape Cod sought to store additional stock at the warehouse location of 373 White's Path, Unit A. The warehouse location would be most heavily utilized for storage from the fall to spring in preparation for the busy spring season. Mr. Wile met with the Health Dept. and provided a summary of his intentions. After learning that the 373 White's Path warehouse location is within the Town's Aquifer Protection District (APD) for the public drinking water supply, Mr. Wile agreed to reduce his range of stored products, removing liquid toxic or hazardous products and straight granular herbicide product from the initial list of proposed items. Items proposed for storage inside the warehouse included fertilizer and plant food. While some fertilizers include herbicide (crabgrass preventer, weed killer) or pesticide (grub killer) they are in lesser concentrations than in the straight granule products originally proposed. For example, a dedicated grub killer may contain 0.6 to 2.0% of two different insecticides, a lawn fertilizer with grub killer will contain about 0.2% of one insecticide. Items proposed for storage outside the warehouse include bagged soil and mulch without additives. All products were to be contained in sealed bags which are held in place on pallets by heavy-duty, industrial, plastic wrap. No plastic wrap would be removed, nor product bags opened at the 373 White's Path warehouse location. Therefore, the final proposal from Agway of Cape Cod was to store toxic or hazardous materials in more than normal household quantities within the APD as outlined in Yarmouth Zoning Bylaw Section 406.5.1.1 (3). Board of Health Hearing: May 23, 2016 The BOH with three members present voted unanimously to recommend the proposal of Agway of Cape Cod to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). This recommendation was based on the ability of the business to comply with the Town of Yarmouth Board of Health Regulation: "Handling and Storage of Toxic or Hazardous Materials" and on the following five (5) conditions, which are beyond the strict scope of the regulation: 1) The storage of any solid or dry toxic or hazardous materials is limited to the size of the pallet rack structure(s) in the building. 2) No storage of liquid materials is allowed. 3) A detailed material spill containment plan must be conspicuously posted at all times and all employees must be familiar with the plan. 4) No vehicle washing is allowed 5) No vehicle repair is allowed. Zoning Board of Appeals Agway of Cape Cod was granted the zoning relief sought with a ZBA Special Permit issued on July 5, 2016. based on the result of the ZBA meeting on June 9, 2016. The ZBA Decision numbered 4645 granted the Special Permit which requires compliance with the above BOH recommendations. 2024 Proposal from Agway of Cape Cod 2 Agway of Cape Cod proposes to continue to operate their warehouse location at 373 White's Path in the manner described previously, but with an increase in the amount of allowed storage of toxic and hazardous materials. If allowed, the storage of dry materials will expand from Unit A to also include Units B & C. The materials proposed are the same presently stored, which include dry fertilizer (some with herbicides) and dry plant food. The storage of any dry toxic or hazardous materials will be limited to the size of the pallet rack structure(s) in Units A, B and C. The size of the pallet rack structures in the units are again proposed to be used as a limiting mechanism instead of a storage limit expressed in pounds. Given the variables of: (1) the weights of the bags of different materials and (2) the number of bags per pallet, it would be difficult to apply and monitor a weight limit for dry toxic or hazardous materials allowed onsite. Therefore, in 2016 the size of the pallet rack structures in the building (specifically Unit A in this case) was used as a means by which to limit the amount of dry toxic or hazardous materials allowed onsite. Most Recent Health Dept. Inspection on December 21 2023 I completed an inspection of the Agway of Cape Cod location of 373 White's Path with the assistance of Mr, Joshua Wile, president of Agway of Cape Cod. I found the business to be operating in compliance with Health Regulation and Hazardous Materials license conditions. All four units of the building (A through D) were viewed. Regulatory Items Zoning Agway of Cape Cod will pursue zoning relief with the ZBA including toxic and hazardous materials storage of more than normal household quantities within the APD as outlined in Yarmouth Zoning Bylaw Section 406.5.1.1 (3), and specifically an increase in storage volume from the size of the pallet rack in Unit A to the size of the pallet racks in Units A, B and C. Board of Health: The Board of Health Regulation "Handling and Storage of Toxic or Hazardous Materials," effective May 2, 1990, will continue to apply to Agway of Cape Cod as the proposed quantity of materials will continue to be greater than the licensing threshold of five pounds for dry materials. Agway of Cape Cod has maintained this license with the Health Dept. since 2016. Board of Health Involvement During their meeting on February 5, 2024, the BQH held a hearing concerning this proposal from Agway of Cape Cod. The meeting was held to confirm that Agway can continue to comply with BOH regulation and to draft comments to the ZBA concerning this proposal. Please find the written recommendations from the BOH in the section titled "BOH Hearing and Recommendations" on Page 6 of this memorandum. Hazardous Materials Delivery and Unloading The dry fertilizer and dry plant food will continue to be delivered to the 373 White's Path location by delivery trucks. The materials will be unloaded from the delivery trucks by Agway of Cape Cod employees using a propane powered forklift. The forklift will be serviced onsite by an outside vendor in the same manner as the forklifts at other Agway of Cape Cod locations. No hydraulic or any other vehicle fluids will be stored at this location. Toxic or Hazardous Materials Storage All the fertilizer and plant food will be stored inside the 373 White's Path warehouse in Units A, B and C on pallet racks. All pallets of materials will be stored with plastic wrap in place and no products will be opened onsite. All the bagged soil and mulch will continue to be stored outside at the rear of the site. As with the other materials, no products will be opened onsite, nor will any pallet wrap be removed. Toxic or Hazardous Materials Use No materials are proposed to be used onsite. The materials will only be stored until there is space for them to be brought to one of the three Agway of Cape Cod stores in Chatham, Dennis, and Harwich. Toxic or Hazardous Materials Disposal No toxic or hazardous materials will require disposal as they are only stored for resale at one of the three Agway of Cape Cod store locations. Toxic or Hazardous Materials Loading and Removal The materials stored at 373 White's Path will be removed for the purpose of transporting them to one of the three Agway of Cape Cod stores. The materials will be loaded onto Agway of Cape Cod trucks by employees using a propane powered forklift. Environmental Safeguards 'I) Only dry or solid materials will be stored. 2) All employees are trained in spill response. 4 3) The spill plan and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) will be available onsite as required by regulation. 4) Spill response materials in the form of heavy-duty tape, brooms, shovels, clay - based absorbent, bags, pans, and an impermeable container with a lid top will be maintained onsite. All stored materials will be dry, but the clay -based absorbent will be stored in case it is needed in the event of a vehicle fluid spill. 5) Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) in the form of protective eyewear, respirators and gloves will be maintained onsite. 6) No vehicle washing, fueling or repair is part of this proposal. 7) While the hours during which employees will be onsite vary, they will check the site daily. Additional Information 1) There is an office onsite although the site is staffed on a part-time basis. 2) There are no scheduled hours, but operations are limited to normal daylight hours. 3) Agway of Cape Cod plans to also store outdoor furniture at this location. Employees will assemble the furniture onsite before transporting it to the retail stores where it will be offered for sale. This operation does not involve the use of toxic or hazardous materials. Health Dept. Requirements Yarmouth Health Regulation requires the following regarding toxic or hazardous materials handling and storage which applies to the proposal by Agway of Cape Cod. 1) The business must register annually for a Yarmouth Board of Health Handling and Storage of Toxic or Hazardous Materials License. 2) No materials may be discharged to the environment. 3) No outdoor storage of toxic or hazardous materials is allowed (soil and mulch are not toxic or hazardous). 4) All materials must be protected from vandalism. 5) Materials must be stored in covered product -tight containers. 5 6) All toxic or hazardous materials must be stored inside secondary containment of 150% volume of the total amount of materials stored (all materials included in this proposal are solids). 7) Any waste material must be properly disposed of by a licensed hazardous waste hauler. No waste materials are anticipated from this business. 8) Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for each toxic or hazardous material must be maintained onsite and be readily available. 9) No vehicle repair or washing is allowed onsite. 10)Spill response materials must be kept onsite. BOH Hearing and Recommendations Attorney Paul Tardif and Agway of Cape Cod owner Joshua Wile presented their proposal to the BOH at the regular board meeting on February 5, 2024. The BOH approved recommending the proposal of Agway of Cape Cod to the ZBA by a unanimous vote with all five members present and voting. This recommendation is based on the ability of the business to continue to comply with the Town of Yarmouth Board of Health Regulation: "Handling and Storage of Toxic or Hazardous Materials" and based on the following five (5) conditions listed below. These conditions are in addition to the strict scope of the regulation and are intended to provide additional protection for the APD. Please note the only difference between the conditions listed below and the original conditions listed previously (established in 2016), is the change to the first condition. Whereas presently the storage of any solid or dry toxic or hazardous materials is limited to the size of the pallet rack structure(s) in Unit A, the proposed first condition below applies to Units A, B and C. 1) The storage of any solid or dry toxic or hazardous materials is limited to the size of the pallet rack structure(s) in Units A, B and C. 2) No storage of liquid materials is allowed. 3) A detailed material spill containment plan must be conspicuously posted at all times and all employees must be familiar with the plan. 4) No vehicle washing is allowed. 5) No vehicle repair is allowed. The Board of Health and Health Department respectfully request that if this proposal is approved by the ZBA, the preceding five (5) conditions please be included in any ZBA 2 Decision. Furthermore, if allowed by the ZBA these items will be included as conditions of the annual Board of Health license.