Proposed gas station fuels residents’ ire

Valerie Miller

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

A gas station, no matter how pretty, is still a gas station -- and residents near Horizon Ridge Parkway say that they already have too many.

The protests came Thursday when the Henderson Planning Commission voted to approve a use permit for a service station in the area, with this one proposed for the northwest corner of Horizon Ridge Parkway and Carnegie Street.

The developer, the Pinjuv Co., will still have to come back before the Planning Commission with plans for the actual size and design of the station.

"We already have six gas stations in a 6-mile radius," resident Karen Sexton told the planners. "We are starting to look like a big oil field out there."

Close to a dozen nearby residents came out to protest the project proposed by the Pinjuv Co.

The gasoline sales, planned for a convenience store, were part of a larger project on the 10-acre development that included other commercial uses such as retail stores, a bank, a restaurant and an assisted-living facility.

The 23,520-square-foot assisted living facility and the other uses were not the issue for residents, but the proliferation of gasoline sales was.

"I live right around the corner from this development, and it's getting to the point where having a gas station nearby has gone from a convenience to a degradation of our neighborhood," Eric Maxwell said.

"When the first gas station went up, we never knew it would plant the seed that started all this," he told the planners.

Residents cited concerns about increased traffic and safety issues, as well as fear about declining property values.

Commissioner JoAnn Huffaker acknowledged residents' concerns and suggested the city might consider an ordinance to prevent the oversaturation of certain types of businesses in one neighborhood, such as service stations and convenience stores in the future.

"A boulevard that has a gas station every three blocks is not adding to the value of the neighborhood," she said. "We have to look at the developer's right to put what he wants on his property, but we also have to determine whether we are doing justice to the people who live there."

John Marchiano, representing the developer, argued that the marketplace would determine how many similar businesses an area should have, but residents disagreed.

"Enough is enough," Sexton said. "There are now either plans approved or stores already built that would have too many gas stations in a 1-mile radius. We don't need another gas station no matter how pretty it is."

Some commissioners hoped a compromise could be reached on the development.

"If they (Pinjuv) come back with a modified plan, I think the convenience store could be less intense on the neighborhood," Commission Chairman George Bochanis said.