Monroe Planning Commission says ‘no’ to QuikTrip

Council to decide final fate of gas station project

A rendering included with a package of zoning-related requests submitted to the City of Monroe shows a QuikTrip convenience store.

QuikTrip is working to establish a convenience store/gas station on North Broad Street, and the city council will hear its zoning-related requests at its May 12 meeting. QuikTrip via City of Monroe 

Proposed zoning actions that could clear the way for a 6,445-square-foot QuikTrip convenience store and its planned 14-pump gas station at 1110 North Broad Street, at the intersection of Charlotte Rowell Boulevard, will be in front of the Monroe City Council at its May 12 meeting, set for 6 p.m. at City Hall.

QuikTrip will be coming to the city council with two requests. One of those requests seeks approval of conditional use on approximately two heavily wooded acres of the 15-acre tract, zoned for highway business use, to allow the installation of fuel pumps.

Under Monroe’s zoning ordinance, convenience stores are an allowed use as a matter of right in areas carrying the B-3 business zoning classification, which is the case with the North Broad Street acreage. However, the zoning ordinance considers gas pumps to be an accessory use for convenience stores, necessitating QuikTrip’s request for the conditional use on the site.

A second, and related, request from QuikTrip seeks a hardship variance from the zoning ordinance to allow placement of fuel pump islands in front of the proposed QuikTrip building.

Under Monroe’s zoning ordinance, fuel pumps are not allowed in what would be considered the front yard of a business. In addition, the North Broad Street tract for which the QuikTrip is planned is in a zoning “overlay district” that includes specific design standards not required in areas outside specially designated districts.

Both requests are coming to the city council with a recommendation from the city’s planning commission with unanimous recommendations for denial. The planning commission is a panel of council appointees who provide guidance on planning- and zoning-related issues, but whose recommendations are not binding on the council.

The hardship variance request came with a recommendation from the city’s planning staff for denial, based on a determination that moving the gas pumps to the side of the QuikTrip building would not represent an undue hardship for the business.

But Erik Eberhart, an attorney representing QuikTrip, disagreed with the staff assessment, contending that moving the pumps to a side of the building would unduly restrict employees’ ability to see what was going on, at least at some pumps, thereby creating a safety hazard.

Eberhart went on to suggest that moving the pumps to the side of the planned QuikTrip would mean that passing motorists, who might otherwise be able to spot an unsafe condition in front of the convenience store, likely would not be able to spot issues at the side of the store, and thus could not alert employees to any problems.

Eberhart also told the planning commission that requiring the pumps to be installed in front of the store “… is going to kill the project.”

But Stephen Jaques, a senior planner with the city, noted for the planning commission that hardship variances are typically granted only for situations such as topographical challenges, which don’t exist on the relatively flat North Broad Street site.

“We’ve also seen QuikTrips around the state that have … laid their stores out similar to the way we’ve suggested, and they seem to be up and running,” Jaques continued.

“It’s solely the applicant’s design choice that’s creating the issue here,” Jaques said. “We don’t really find that there’s a hardship that’s compelling them not to follow our ordinance.”

In making QuikTrip’s case for its conditional-use and variance requests, Eberhart told the planning commission, “We believe that we’ve got a very viable plan that would serve this community very well, but we need some help … .”

Eberhart told the planning commission that QuikTrip had become aware of city planners’ concerns just the day before the commission’s April 21 meeting. He also launched into a sales pitch, and a warning, for the project.

“QuikTrip would be a great partner for the city of Monroe,” Eberhart said, “and this location is a great location for QuikTrip to partner with the city of Monroe. But just being direct and to the point, QuikTrip is not going to be in a position to adjust their site plan to accommodate what the planning department believes needs to happen. They just won’t move forward on this project.”

Eberhart also noted that the property contemplated for the Quik Trip is on the edge of the overlay district, telling the planning commission, “… that’s why we believe … this should be something you should consider granting a variance on, and allowing the project to move forward.”

There were some indications prior to the votes at the April 21 meeting that the planning commission was willing to table its consideration of the conditional-use and hardship variance issues to allow QuikTrip to consider issues raised by the panel and come back at a later date for renewed planning commission consideration.

But Eberhart indicated then that QuikTrip was more interested in fast-tracking their conditional-use and hardship variance requests to the city council for a binding vote.

“We would not ask to have this tabled,” Eberhart told the planning commissioners. “We would ask for you to go ahead and make a decision.”

Pressed by Planning Commissioner Shauna Mathias, who told Eberhart the planning commission was not agreeable to a QuikTrip proposal regarding entry and exit to and from the planned convenience store/gas station site, Eberhart told her, “Then I think you deny it (the conditional use and hardship variance)” — thus effectively sending that denial to the city council as the planning commission’s non-binding recommendation.