The Zoning Board of Appeals granted a special permit and variances for a proposed 24-hour gas station at 410 Beacham St. at its meeting on Tuesday night.
Last month, the Planning Board recommended the ZBA not approve the permit and variances, citing traffic issues and the desire for a higher level of development near the Chelsea waterfront.
The lot is currently abandoned, but was used as a gas station for more than 50 years. “The new gas station at 410 Beacham St. is on a triangular lot in an industrial zone, near the entrance of the produce market area,” said attorney David Mindlin, representing the applicant. “It will include four double pumps with eight fueling positions, and two sets of diesel pumps with a high speed pump in the middle for tractor-trailers to be fueled on both sides.”
The size of the building is smaller than what was originally proposed to the ZBA, when it included a sit-down cafe area and office space on the second floor.
“It’s been scaled back to a grab and go convenience store with no seating and no eating on the premises,” said Mindlin, adding that would help alleviate potential parking issues on the property.
Mindlin added that the second-floor office space had also been removed from the plans. The gas station would be open 24-hours per day, with the convenience store operating from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., Mindlin said.
“Part of the reason for doing (this project) is because there are not a lot of gas stations in Chelsea,” said Mindlin.
The Beacham Street station could potentially help alleviate truck traffic at the Marathon Station across from the high school, Mindlin said. “Not that we want to harm any other businesses, but there is a significant traffic issue there, and hopefully, there will be minimal traffic in this area,” said Mindlin.
City Councilor-at-Large Leo Robinson voiced his support for the project.
“We had an ordinance on the books for a long time that no gas station could sell coffee or sandwiches, and I went in and reviewed that ordinance so that gas stations would be allowed to sell coffee and sandwiches,” said Robinson. “This has been a gas station since 1970. It’s in an industrial area, and one of the things they are not going to be doing (which the previous occupant did) is repair vehicles there.”