After two months of informal review, a public hearing has been scheduled for a SEMASS plan to build a compressed natural gas station.

On Tuesday, the Rochester Planning Board scheduled the hearing for Thursday, Oct. 24.  Last week, planning board members toured the proposed site for the station at SEMASS, a waste-to-energy facility located off of Cranberry Highway.

“I think we’re ready to advertise the hearing,” Planning board Chair Arnie Johnson said. “The site visit was pretty straightforward.”

Planning board members had expressed concerns about traffic at the site, which will see commercial waste vehicles possibly jockeying for space alongside the public.

Larry Swartz, of Covanta SEMASS, told board members a traffic engineer was consulted, and his recommendations will be part of the final plan.

Those recommendations include adding signs to steer motorists away from a road leading to rail access for the facility. Developers have said they don’t expect much private traffic in the first five years. Planning started three years ago, when a waste hauler informed SEMASS the industry was seeking more natural gas fueling stations.