A fuel island set to be constructed next to Brunswick’s Public Works facility received initial approval from the planning board at its meeting Tuesday night.

The hearing Tuesday was for a sketch plan of the first phase of a larger overhaul of Brunswick’s Public Works facility on Industry Road. The project sparked alarm among residents in the area. Public Works will have to come back before the board for a final plan review.

In this phase, the town plans to build a new fuel island and salt shed. In December, the town council voted to borrow $4.7 million for this phase after deciding not to purchase an adjacent office building at 2 Industry Road.

Residents who live in the area have said they’re worried about the potential for fumes, increased traffic, noise and light pollution and the destruction of the town’s Senior Gardens, which sit on the new fuel island site.

The town has determined that the current Public Works facility, built in the 1950s, is undersized and no longer viable for the department. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection permit for the current fuel tanks, located at the center of the property, is set to expire in 2028.

If approved by the planning board, construction to move the fuel station closer to residences could start as early as this summer.

Several neighbors spoke at Tuesday night’s meeting, asking developers and the Public Works Department to reconsider moving the fuel island to the Senior Gardens plot. Some said they worry about the health risks of building a fueling station close to houses and a daycare center, Family Focus, which is located across the street from the site.

“This plan will take that garden away (and) put a gas station and a salt shed there. That’s what (the kids) are going to see every day,” Water Street resident Bonnie Spies told the board.

Town staff are actively searching for a new location for the Senior Gardens, Town Manager Julia Henze said in a phone call last week. The gardens, which are owned by the town but facilitated by People Plus, were closed before the start of this growing season in anticipation of the Public Works construction.

The initial plan was unanimously approved by the board. Board member Allison Harris said she was “very disappointed” that the town could not find an alternative site for the updated Public Works facility, but said that the department is in “dire need” of a rehabilitated home base.

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