Inspector: Gas leak may have led to explosion

Goshen — Quick action by emergency personnel averted what could have been a huge explosion in the Town of Goshen. After detecting a strong odor of gas in the air, an employee at the Hacienda Restaurant on Route 17M called the gas company to check it out. Julius Martin, the New York State Electric and Gas employee who responded to the Feb. 27 incident, “could hear the gas leaking from the one-inch pipe” inside the abandoned, unfinished 75,000-foot sportsplex building, located next door to the restaurant, according to the town’s building inspector, Neal Halloran. Martin immediately shut off the gas line near the building. Orange & Rockland Utilities and the Chester Fire Department were also called the scene. Electric power and gas were shut off to the building. TD Northbank now owns the building and keeps the heat on to dry out the mold accumulating inside the sports complex. Firefighters from the Chester Fire Department broke into the building to ventilate the structure “to eliminate the gas explosion,” Halloran explained at the March 1 town board meeting. The gas leaked from a pipe venting through the roof, which heavy snow and ice had bent and split open. The entire structure filled with gas. Three other heaters had sagged but did not break or release gas. About an hour after ventilation, Martin, Orange County fire inspector Jeff Hunt, and town police officer Luke Markiewicz walked through of the building, discovered the problem, and deemed the building okay at that time. No foul play is suspected. Halloran was called in to follow up. “With the entire structure filled with gas, and such a big building and such a great amount of gas, it would have been a major explosion,” he said. Building continues to deteriorate Work needs to be done to restore the building to a useful purpose, he said. “Deterioration has occurred in the last two years.” The sorry state of the building belies the joy attending its groundbreaking nearly five years ago. Plans were for a $6 million, split-level complex on 10 1/2 acres that would include four indoor and four outdoor tennis courts, a full-size indoor soccer field, three indoor basketball courts, an indoor roller hockey rink, courts for volleyball and lacrosse, fields for flag football and field hockey, a fitness center, and an Olympic-length outdoor swimming pool. But plans soon ran aground as shareholders sparred in court over money. The bank foreclosed on the property in 2008. TD Northbank did not return a call for comment.