The Buxton Planning Board had safety and environmental questions Monday about the site plan of a public works garage proposed next to town hall.

Planning Board concerns included a separate access onto Portland Road for the proposal and two fuel storage tanks because of an aquifer below the site. Bill Hoffman, an engineer with Deluca-Hoffman Associates Inc., presented the plan.

The garage would be located on the 169-acre complex that now includes the town hall, police station, transfer station and salt shed. A new garage would replace the present one on Haines Meadow Road in Buxton Center.

The complex has an entry across Portland Road from the fire station. The plan presented Monday night called for a separate access onto Portland Road for the garage.

Wanda Emery, a Planning Board member, asked for an updated list of abutters. She had concerns about the impact of headlights on homes directly across the street from the access road for the proposed garage.

Planning Board member Chris Baldinelli also said vehicles exiting the proposed access at night would shine headlights onto homes across Portland Road, and he said entering Portland Road from the proposed access would be unsafe because of visibility. “My problem is with the entrance,” he said. “It’s unsafe in my opinion.”

Hoffman said public works wants its own access. He said a separate entrance would be safer than mixing public works vehicles with other town traffic.

Selectman Dan Collomy, who chairs a town committee proposing the new garage, said the planned separate entrance would be between two dwellings on the opposite side of the road and headlights would not shine directly on the homes. He also said that the Maine Department of Transportation had already approved a curb cut for the proposal.

An access onto Portland Road would still require Planning Board approval. “An entrance permit from the state doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” said Keith Emery, Planning Board chairman.

Code Enforcement Officer Fred Farnham sent a letter to the Planning Board objecting to a separate entrance for the garage. He said Portland Road has a large flow of commuter traffic and another entrance to the town complex would interrupt traffic flow on a major route.

“I don’t think it should have its own entrance onto the Portland Road,” Farnham wrote. “I don’t think a second entrance is necessary or safe.”

The new garage proposal also called for a 3,000-gallon diesel fuel storage tank and another for 2,000 gallons of gasoline. The present garage has a 500-gallon tank for each. Cliff Emery, chairman of the selectmen, said the town could cut expenses, saving money on fuel costs, if it could take larger deliveries.

Keith Emery said that the fuel tanks would be sitting on an aquifer and town ordinances wouldn’t allow bulk fuel tanks at the site. He said the town had denied a request for bulk fuel tanks to a businessman whose property is above an aquifer. “It would be a slap in the face to the other people,” Emery said if the town got approval for bulk storage of fuel at the site.

Planning Board member Sue Schaller agreed. “We do need to be consistent and go by the same rules as others,” she said.

Collomy said the garage committee had sought advice from a fuel supplier about installation of tanks. He said tanks would be double-lined and also have a container, preventing a spill onto the ground. He said the tanks would have an alarm that would sound in case of any leak.

The Planning Board said a date for a site walk would be set at their next meeting, which will be in August.

In addition to Collomy, members of the committee working on the plans for the new garage are retired road commissioner Sharon Elwell, Public Works Director Lary Owen, town mechanic Larry Anderson and a resident, Dennis Sweatt.

The garage would be an 80-by-120-foot building and the road frontage would be lined with trees. The garage would be served by its own well. Collomy said financing for the new garage hasn’t been determined.