Questions about potential issues with an underground fuel tank threatened to derail a special use permit request for the operator of Fountain Hills Offroad during the Dec. 17 Town Council meeting.

Gerald Lynn, the owner of Fountain Hills Offroad, said he is leasing the property and will not be dispensing gasoline or any fuel at the site, which is a former gas station at Saguaro Boulevard and Desert Vista. He said it is his understanding that the tank has not been in use for more than 10 years and has been drained and sealed.

The special use permit is simply to allow the sale of new and used automobiles and parts at the location.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has a program to remediate old fuel tank sites by removing them and cleaning up if there had been any leakage. It is unclear whether the tanks at this site ever leaked.

However, both town Development Services Director John Wesley and Lynn indicated it is their understanding that ADEQ has had great difficulty in contacting the property owner to arrange to have the tanks removed. Wesley said the property owner, identified in the discussion as Charlie Ryan, is required to remove the tanks, but is not in compliance.

Mayor Ginny Dickey said she is concerned because if ADEQ wants to take action the business owner may have to suspend operations while work is done.

Dickey said she would feel some responsibility for putting the business in that position if council approves the special use permit.

“In all my years in town this has never been an issue, now someone wants to put a business here and all of a sudden it’s a problem,” Councilman Art Tolis said.

Councilman Dennis Brown asked Lynn whether he was aware that there may be an issue regarding the tanks and it could upset his business. The applicant indicated he was completely aware of the situation.

Vice Mayor Sherry Leckrone said she sees this as the council placing a precondition on the special use permit in which the applicant has no control over.

“I don’t think that is fair,” Leckrone said.

Wesley went over a couple of stipulations related to the permit including asking the applicant to close off access on driveway from the Saguaro Boulevard frontage road. The plan calls for the drive to be chained off, however staff, and the Planning and Zoning Commission agreed to ask the applicant upgrade the closure device to possibly large planters with landscaping.

The council voted 4-3 to approve the permit with Leckrone, Brown, Scharnow and Tolis in support. Dickey, Councilman David Spelich and Councilman Alan Magazine voted no, all stating their concerns regarding the buried, unused fuel tanks.