BY JOHN KACHUBA
Enquirer Contributor
BATAVIA -- Some local business owners and eight families on Meadowbrook Drive, adjacent to Auxier Gas, took their concerns over the possibility of another explosion there to Batavia Village Council Monday night. In the last 20 years, there have been two explosions at Auxier on West Main Street, resulting in two fatalities and several persons injured.
The latest, on Aug. 7, took the life of longtime Auxier employee Robert Wood.
Ruth McCormick, a Meadowbrook resident since 1956, said the street and the residents were there before the gas company. She said the residents fought the zoning variance that allowed Auxier to install propane tanks on the property in 1964. They lost.
"We expected business on Main Street but not anything so dangerous," Mrs. McCormick said, explaining that Auxier, operated by Douglas Auxier since the death of his father in the 1978 blast, originally had one propane tank on the site but has since expanded its operations to four tanks.
"We don't object to the business being there, but we do object to the huge tanks. They should be relocated somewhere out in the country," she said.
Stephen Shinkle of Wood Street read a prepared statement in which he praised Doug Auxier's contributions to the community and cited other businesses that had the potential for a destructive accident, such as Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co.
Linda Watson, a sister of Mr. Wood, responded to Mr. Shinkle's statement by saying, "No one's gotten killed at those other businesses. There are two lives gone here."
"We're not out head-hunting," said Meadowbrook resident James Buckley. "I've known Doug Auxier for years. I know the man feels bad about it, but we still need to know what guarantee do we have that something like this won't happen again?"
Some of the residents asked whether the village administration had talked with Mr. Auxier to see whether the tanks could be relocated to a less-populated area or whether some protective measures could be taken at the present site to minimize the risk of another explosion. Mayor Harry Haglage said the village administration had not yet spoken with Mr. Auxier but intended to do so. He said they had looked into the legal aspects of Auxier's propane tanks occupying the site and found it was legal, although allowed through a zoning variance granted in the 1960s.
He said the village is still waiting for reports from various agencies, especially OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), to help determine their course.
"Since there appears to be an allowable use by law, I don't know what the village can do about it, if anything."
