Proposed gas station renovation draws mixed reactions from council members

The owners of the Circle K gas station at the corner of Lakeshore Drive and Columbiana Road are proposing large scale renovations to the property, but some of their plans met resistance at a May 15 special issues committee meeting.

Circle K representatives presented plans to tear down and rebuild the gas station, which committee members generally seemed to favor. However, they have requested a sign ordinance variance for the number of signs on the building, the size of one sign and the height of the main pole sign.

The existing pole sign on the property is 25 feet tall but was grandfathered in since the city council updated its ordinance to allow only a 6-foot pylon sign. Tearing down the sign removes it from this grandfathered status, and the Circle K representatives want the new sign to be 30 feet to accommodate extra room for diesel price information and advertisement for their food services, though they would consider removing the food sign at the request of council.

Due to a city moratorium on pole signs, the gas station representatives offered to style the pole sign to look more like a monument sign. Ward 4 Representative Barry Smith said this made her more open to the height of the new sign, though Ward 1 Representative Andy Gwaltney said he worried it would set a precedent other businesses would try to use. The representatives noted that pole signs with gas prices are a standard for the convenience center industry, and landscaping in the city right-of-way would make a 6-foot sign hard to see.

Discussion temporarily got sidetracked by the other plans for the property, which the Circle K representatives said would include closing the south entrance from Columbiana and making the north entrance right turn only coming in or out of the parking lot. In place of the south entrance, they want to connect with the neighboring businesses' entrance, and relocate the median access in front of that entrance instead of its current position at the north entrance to the Circle K.

The change in median access locations surprised some committee members as this would require city approval, which Circle K has not sought so far. The committee wanted to see traffic data to prove whether this would improve traffic flow to the area, and also had concerns whether it would interfere with the Shades Creek greenway. Ward 5 Representative Jennifer Andress also expressed concern with plans to reduce vegetation on the property.

Smith reminded the council that only the Circle K signs were under discussion tonight and any other changes would have to come before the council at another time. The committee voted to send the issue to the full council for a public hearing on May 22 at 5 p.m., though Smith warned the gas station representatives to expect plenty of questions and possibly some resistance from residents.

At a planning and development meeting also held tonight, committee members also heard from Clark Bailey from Volkert Engineering about performing a citywide traffic study. Skipper Consulting has previously presented their own plan for the study, which would be conducted through a combination of state grant and city match funds.

Within the $100,000 budget, Bailey said Volkert would create a transportation master plan that would include some elements of pedestrian and bike accessibility.

“It’s supposed to reflect what the city and the citizens want out of their roads," Bailey said. “It’s a way to keep everything pointed to a certain goal.”

Volkert would collect existing data from localized traffic studies around the city, as well as input from a public town hall, and perform analyses on roads to see how they match up to the city's desires for their use. From this information, Bailey said Volkert would provide recommendations for immediate low-cost fixes, long-term projects and areas to study further.

Bailey estimated the whole project would take about six months. Ward 3 Representative Walter Jones commented that the council has considered and budgeted for a traffic study before and never completed it. However, the committee members generally seemed in favor of moving forward this year.

“I fully intend to go through with it,” Ward 1 Representative Britt Thames said, adding that the city has had a habit in the past of not following through on suggestions from experts on how to improve their roads. If the city funds the study this year,  “we need to commit ourselves to at the very least trying what’s recommended.”

“Let’s do it. I’m tired of talking about it,” Jones said.

The traffic study issue is tabled until the city hears back from the Regional Planning Commission about approved firms they can choose from to complete the work, Thames said.