September 18, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 3 Mahwah Pilot plans scale at Mahwah truck stop by Frank J. McMahon The Pilot Corporation has applied to the Mahwah Zoning Board of Adjustment for approval to install a truck scale on the truck stop portion of the Pilot site on Route 17 South. Pilot is also seeking approvals for the installation of an 8,000 gallon underground diesel emission fluid tank, a slate walkway between its site and the adjacent Comfort Suites hotel, which was built after Pilot’s original site plan was approved, and related signage. Late last month, Rick Wachal, vice president of operations for the CAT Scale Company in Iowa, and Glenn Phillips, a professional engineer who is the chief oper- ating officer for the Core States Group, an integrated engineering, architectural, and project management firm in Warren, testi- fied about Pilot’s new application. Wachal told the board his company has 1,475 truck scales in the United States that permit truck drivers to check the weight of their trucks before going onto state high- ways where the trucks will be weighed at state inspection stations. He said drivers whose trucks are deemed overweight on a state scale can be fined and put out of service because it is unsafe to be on the road if the truck does not have the correct weight distribution. His company guaran- tees that if a driver is fined because his or her truck is found by state inspectors to be overweight and the CAT Scale had shown it to be within the legal weight, his company will immediately check its scale and, if it is wrong, the company will reimburse the driver. If the CAT Scale is found to be cor- rect, he said, the company will appear in court with the driver as a witness. The scale would be located on the north side of the diesel fuel pumps and trucks would enter the Pilot site, circulate around to the north, and then enter the scale area. Wachal described the scale as three con- crete platforms located over a reinforced basement type pit. The three platform scales are calibrated by companies licensed to do that type of work. One platform weighs the speed drive axle area of the truck, the middle platform weighs the drive axle, and the rear platform weighs the rear axle area. He said when the driver sees the scale sign, which is mounted on two poles at the front of the three platforms, he or she drives the truck to the front of the platforms under the overhead sign and uses the intercom mounted on the pole on the driver’s side to provide the state certified weigh master with the truck number. After the truck is weighed, the driver pulls the truck off the scale platforms, makes any adjustments to the weight that may be necessary, and then goes to get fuel and then to see the weigh master, who provides a ticket verifying the weight of the truck. Wachal said the procedure takes about 20 to 30 seconds and costs the driver $10 for an original weigh or $2 for a re-weigh. The results are strictly for the truck driver’s information. In response to a question from the board, Wachal said his company owns the scale and leases space for it from Pilot, which operates the scale and collects the fee. Members of the board also questioned the size and appearance of the sign for the scale, but Wachal explained that it is impor- tant for the drivers to know where the scale is when they enter the Pilot property. He also said he does not expect the location of the scale at the Pilot site to increase the amount of trucks visiting the site because most Pilot sites have a scale. Phillips described the need and use of (continued on page 6)