Dishonest and Disrespectful
I have no respect for the leadership of Rockingham Petroleum. They bought property, which was previously residential and outside the town limits. They got the manager of their convenience store operations elected to the town council (can you say “conflict of interest?”) and proceeded to annex the property to the town and have it rezoned commercial. They then proceeded to build a service station/convenience store over the vigorous protestations of the residents of the neighborhood. However, they promised (in a written proffer letter and an artist’s drawing of the proposed site submitted to the town council with their proposal to build the service station) that they would plant a buffer zone of evergreen trees (to replace the beautiful woods they bulldozed) and to shield our neighborhood from the ugly commercial site, as well as to muffle the noise from the non-stop (24/7) stream of trucks going in and out and using their Jake brakes. Well, of course, no trees were ever planted. Now the station, lit up like a carnival day and night, looms over our neighborhood like a mothership and we might as well be living next to a helicopter pad.In addition, they promised that it would not be a truck stop. They put up two dinky signs that said “No Overnight Parking” and the truckers simply parked there all day. The town council was addressed about this issue and Rockingham Petroleum replaced the signs with somewhat larger signs that say “Two Hour Parking Limit.” But they don’t enforce it and trucks regularly park there overnight. When the general manager, Josh Stevens, was contacted, he replied that Rockingham Petroleum did not SIGN the proffer letter, so they did not have to honor their commitment and would not plant the trees. Rockingham Petroleum is the epitome of a cutthroat business and they care nothing about the people they serve…only their bottom line. No honesty and no ethics!
