By —Gary Buiso
Despite a state lawmaker’s impassioned urge to reject a special permit request by a Flatbush Avenue gas station, Community Board 18 last week unanimously approved the application. State Senator Carl Kruger likened the scene at the Exxon station at 1927-1935 Flatbush Avenue, at the corner of Kings Highway, to a scene akin to a John Ford-directed western. “You are housing hoodlums, outlaws and thugs,” Kruger told gas station attorney Joshua Rinesmith. Kruger said dollar van drivers—which the community board has long taken issue with—consistently use the station, park there overnight, and receive discounted gas. “For you to come here is a shocking outrage to this community,” he told station attorney Joshua Rinesmith. “That’s the message I want you to take back—not what the planning board has to say, but what Carl Kruger has to say,” he continued. The special permit would allow the existing station, accessory convenience store, and a small parking lot to continue to exist. Derek Sutton, a community affairs officer with the 63rd Precinct, said he knew of “nothing out of the ordinary” at the gas station. Sutton said he occasionally receives complaints from the station owner about the dollar vans. “We go and make them leave,” Sutton said. Other times, Sutton said, “he [the station owner] let’s them stay.” In order to remain at the site, the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals must ultimately approve the application. A hearing date has yet to be scheduled. The board’s vote, which is strictly advisory, came with the stipulation that the station disallow parking there and that the convenience store not sell alcohol. Rinesmith said this week he will soon discuss the board’s stipulations, as well as the issue of discounted gas, with the station owner. CB 18 District Manger Dorothy Turano stressed that the station itself is doing nothing illegal. Even so, she continued, its presence “creates havoc” for local residents and commuters.
