PHILIPSTOWN – Fearing that an oil spill would contaminate an aquifer used by homeowners and businesses for drinking water, the Philipstown Town Board has approved a law banning new businesses that sell and store petroleum products from opening along Route 9 north of the Route 301 intersection.
The mandate also prohibits gas stations and “hybrid petroleum storage facilities” including home heating oil companies and truck depots that store up to 25,000 gallons of fuel between Route 301 and Philipstown’s southern border on Route 9, as well as a stretch of Route 301 between Route 9 and the Village of Nelsonville border.
The municipality has also approved a town-wide ban on businesses that store large amounts of petroleum products.
This is not the first time a Putnam County community has passed legislation halting the location of petroleum storage within its borders.
Two decades ago, the Town of Putnam Valley amended its Zoning Code prohibiting petroleum distribution sites, either permanent or portable, from being developed within its borders after a developer wanted to construct a gas station in town fearing possible pollution of the Peekskill watershed.