Route 72 Gulf Gas Station Owner Seeks to Keep Waste-Disposal Trucks and Containers on Site

A solid waste business is seeking Barnegat Township’s permission to keep its garbage-disposal trucks and containers near the Gulf gas station on Route 72 West, near the intersection with Bay Avenue.

Andrew Pinto, who owns both the solid waste company and the gas station, will face some concern over the potential impact of his request when the Barnegat Township Zoning Board considers his use variance application on Tuesday.

According to the Pinelands Commission, Pinto had already cleared approximately 30,000 square feet of vegetation at the 2.4-acre site over the past few years without permission.

“This constitutes a violation of the application requirements of the Barnegat Township land use ordinance and the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan,” wrote Charles M. Horner, the commission’s director of Regulatory Programs, in a letter last month to Pinto.

The owner must either re-vegetate the land or seek the appropriate approvals both from the Pinelands Commission and from Barnegat Township, the letter said.

On Thursday, the Barnegat Township Environmental Commission discussed the letter as well as Pinto’s zoning board application. The commission members first questioned the safety of the existing underground storage tanks that are used for gasoline sold at the site.

“There was initially a concern of whether or not those tanks were upgraded properly,” said Environmental Commission member Barry Durham. “Through research, we were able to understand that yes, they were, in fact, properly upgraded.”

The Environmental Commission’s other worry had to do with problems that may result from the use of roll-off containers that the company would utilize for the storage of solid waste and the potential runoff of tainted rainwater.

“There was a concern that whatever was in those containers prior to them being empty would end up contaminating the soil,” Durham said.

“But in their application, they have stipulated that the containers would be cleaned off,” he added.

Durham indicated he would not object to Pinto’s application at this time, “as long as the containers remain clean.”

“What we don’t want to see is a use that is incompatible with the zoning, and therefore would potentially represent an environmental risk,” said another Environmental Commission member, Jerry Harper, who also is on the township’s Planning Board.

“But we would be willing to support any legitimate use for which the area is zoned within the limits of what the Pinelands Commission approves.”

Another commission member, Martin Weber, however, has a more personal perspective, as one of the site’s closest neighbors.

“They want to run a trash business, and I am totally against it,” said Weber, who lives on Route 72. “We had two other garbage outfits here before and they didn’t last, they were thrown out. And those were really small. The last company that was here, I think they had three or four trucks and that was it. And that was bad enough, with the animals and the bugs and the flies.”

Pinto Bros. Disposal is seeking to keep 12 trucks and 12 containers on the property.

“They say they’re going to clean their trucks and pressure-wash their containers every day, but they aren’t,” Weber said. “Once they get their approval, that will be that. Those trucks won’t get washed before they’re here and the garbage will sit there.”

Pinto owns three companies based in South Plainfield. Pinto Bros. Disposal is a solid waste utility company, which picks up and removes trash from homes, schools and businesses. Its clients include Long Beach Township, Barnegat Light and the Barnegat School District. Pinto’s second business, Pinto Land Management, a real-estate holding company, owns the land on which stands Pinto Coastal Auto Repair, holding the gas station and a repair shop.