MONROE, GA (May 18, 2026 ) – Based on a request from the attorney for the project, the Monroe City Council agreed at its May 12 meeting to table consideration of two proposed zoning actions connected with a plan for a 6,445-square-foot QuikTrip convenience store, with 14 gas pumps, on two acres of a 15-acre tract at 1110 North Broad Street at Charlotte Rowell Boulevard.
The council, which has the final word on zoning-related issues, now will hear the requests for a conditional use on the property, and a hardship variance from local zoning regulations, at its next meeting, set for 6 p.m. June 9 at City Hall.
The two requests from QuikTrip are coming to the council with recommendations from the April 21 meeting of the Monroe Planning and Zoning Commission – an advisory group of council appointees – that both be denied.
The council is not bound by any planning commission recommendation.
QuikTrip is seeking the conditional-use approval because the city’s zoning ordinance doesn’t allow gas pumps to be part of a convenience store. The hardship variance request seeks to allow placement of gas pump islands in front of the convenience store instead of on the side of the building, as required by municipal regulations.
At the planning commission meeting, attorney Erik Eberhart contended placing pump islands at the side of the convenience store would be a security concern, because store employees would not have a direct line of sight to the pumps.
The planning commission indicated to Eberhart prior to their votes that they would be willing to table consideration of the two requests to give QuikTrip some additional time to address concerns raised by the city’s Planning and Development Department. Eberhart flatly rejected that option, indicating QuikTrip wanted to fast-track the issues to the city council.
“We would not ask to have this tabled,” Eberhart said at the April 21 meeting. “We would ask for you to go ahead and make a decision.”
There was an indication at the council’s Tuesday meeting that when the two requests are heard next month, QuikTrip could face some opposition from residents near the proposed site.
On Tuesday, a resident of the adjacent Green Acres subdivision expressed concern the QuikTrip would bring traffic issues, a potential for flooding, excessive light intrusion, and a potential for vagrancy to the neighborhood. The woman also was concerned that having a QuikTrip near the neighborhood could adversely affect property values.
“I love to see our city grow,” the woman said. “We just feel that we shouldn’t be affected by it. … Why come (and) … disrupt a longstanding stable neighborhood with growing families. I don’t understand it.”
“We just want to live in peace and enjoy our homes and our families,” the woman continued. “I pray that each member of the city council will put yourselves in our shoes, and consider the threat that QT brings to us losing our homes that we’ve worked so hard for.”
Responding to the woman’s concerns, Mayor John Howard noted that the area “is zoned for a gas station, but we’ll take every precaution to make sure that your property is protected, in every way we possibly can, legally.”
“But,” Howard continued, “the way things are already zoned, as long as they (QuikTrip) behave in a manner according with our zoning guidelines, it’s by right (that they can) … put a station there.”
“I just don’t want them coming in and destroying our neighborhood … ,” the Green Acres resident told Howard. “We’re not rich people.”
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