Joshua Lee Smith Quoted in “Politics and the City: Too many gas stations in Worcester — or too few?” in the Worcester Telegram

May 10, 2022

Gas stations are causing a bit of an uproar among local boards these days. Those opposing the addition of more fueling stations think Worcester already has enough places to get gas, while proponents favor the economic development and opportunities the stations can deliver, such as local jobs and convenience store shops.

The discussion began last fall with the proposal of a gas station, convenience store and car wash at 360-370 Park Avenue, an abandoned property. The application for the project before the Zoning Board of Appeals was withdrawn in December.

Joshua Lee Smith, who represented the property owners, spoke to the Worcester Telegram about the future of the project:

“Anything’s possible,” he said. “We reserved our rights when we withdrew the application, so we could come back with some type of gas-station component or something completely different.”

The article notes that Worcester has more gas stations per capita than Providence, Rhode Island; Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; however, it’s hard to know what it all means. For example, while Worcester has more than twice as many stations per capita than Providence, it is also almost twice the geographic size of Providence.

Smith notes that you really need to look at gas station data on a neighborhood level to make any legitimate comparison.

Continue reading “Politics and the City: Too many gas stations in Worcester — or too few?” on the Worcester Telegram website (subscription required).