Speedway Gas Station Site Plan Postponed

Following a planning staff recommendation, the site plan for a Speedway gas station was postponed by the Ann Arbor planning commission at its June 5, 2012 meeting. The project is located at the 1.39-acre site on the northeast corner of Miller and North Maple roads. Also postponed was a request to rezone a portion of the site at 1300 North Maple from PL (public land) to C3 (fringe commercial).

The plan calls for demolishing an existing 1,500-square-foot vacant service station building and constructing a new 3,968-square-foot, single-story gas station and convenience store with five pumps. The gasoline pumps will be covered by a 28-foot by 121-foot canopy. Fourteen parking spaces will be provided next to the convenience store, and six bicycle hoops will be located on the south side of the building, adjacent to a sidewalk leading to Miller.

The rezoning relates to a previous site plan that was approved in 1972 but never built. That plan provided a 30-foot dedicated public easement along the eastern and northern sides of the site, intended as a greenway for the adjacent Garden Homes neighborhood. However, even though the strip was zoned as public land, it remained in private ownership. The easement for public access will remain, despite the rezoning.

The planning staff recommended postponing action on the site plan and rezoning, to allow more time for the owner to address issues related to landscaping and the traffic engineer review.

This brief was filed from the second-floor council chambers of city hall at 301 E. Huron, where planning commission meetings are held. A more detailed report will follow: [link]