Gas station OK'd amid Seville residents' opposition

Aug. 15—A master-planned community of over 3,000 homes in Gilbert that boasts upscale comforts such as a champion-style golf course will soon have a nearby amenity it doesn't want — a 24-hour gas station.

QuikTrip plans to go up on a 4.35-acre vacant parcel at the northeast corner of Higley and Riggs roads within the Seville Golf and Country Club's planned area of development. The Planning Commission Aug. 2 unanimously approved the project's design.

"When we bought the house, we weren't told that there was going to be a gas station," resident Shari Smith said. "It's a country club location."

Smith claimed that studies have shown homes near gas stations drop in property value.

"This is an affluent neighborhood," she said. "We pay a lot of taxes and I don't think that this is the best use of what we've been asking for, which is restaurants. There's not one restaurant between Gilbert and Power roads on Riggs, nothing."

Smith also raised concerns with a gas station's impacts to heath such as ozone problems, which she said have links to childhood leukemia and to asthma.

Resident Louis Scichilone said that his backyard fence abuts the project's parcel and that there was no buffer between his home and the gas station.

"No amount of block wall, vegetation or trees will block the view from our second-story window," Scichilone said. "We pay good money for our homes. Those are our investments where we raise our families (and) spend time with friends.

"We don't want the noise and environmental pollution that comes with a gas station, let alone one that runs 24 hours a day literally outside our windows."

Scichilone said he's been a police officer in the Valley for 23 years and gas stations and parking lots produce noise, garbage and noxious odors and "oftentimes become informal gathering places for criminal conduct and nefarious activity."

All those objections were raised by residents in Ahwatukee three years ago when Quik Trip announced plans to build a gas station right at the only entrance to a small subdivision.

One resident was a Phoenix Fire Department captain who produced reams of evidence related to the air pollution and fire hazards posed by gas stations, but city officials approved it anyway.

Scichilone also noted that a Fry's gas station is about 1,000 feet down from the proposed location and that at least five gas stations are located within a 1- to 4-mile radius.

According to town planner Sal Disanto, neighboring residents' concerns also included increased traffic volume to the immediate vicinity, hours of operation and time of fuel and convenience delivery.

QuikTrip proposed 54 parking spots on one of three commercial pads within the Seville master plan. The gas station with convenient store is part of phase 1, which includes building an 8-foot cement block perimeter screen wall along the north and east property lines.

Phase 2 includes a Salad N'Go location and the remaining 5,000-square-foot pad is for future development.

"We're not here asking for permission on the use; we're allowed use by right in this zoning district," pointed out attorney Lauren Proper Potter, representing QuikTrip. "Not only are we an allowed use, it has been projected to be a commercial corner since the initial Seville PAD was passed in 2001.

"There's no secret that this was always going to be a commercial use. What we're here for tonight is the master site plan and design review of our store."

That said, she noted that QuikTrip "always want to be a good neighbor."

"As much as we like to think that people will go out of their way to come visit us the truth is that we serve the communities that are directly adjacent to where we put our stores," she said. "A lot of thought goes into selecting those locations."

She said QuikTrip's gone out of its way working with town planners to make sure it was providing more than the adequate buffer.

"None of the setbacks are just the bare minimum," she said. "Here everything is significantly enhanced and in fact the separation from the property line to the adjacent residential is 150 feet so it's well beyond the requirement (of) maybe 20 or 30 feet."

Proper Potter said substantial landscaping also is proposed — large trees in 24-inch boxes, which will have upwards of a 12-foot canopy to provide a "very good" buffer for the adjacent homes.

As for traffic, the QuikTrip is designed carefully to avoid conflicts, she said, adding that the store won't be selling diesel fuel, eliminating the possibility of commercial semis coming into the area.

"Yes, we intend to be a 24-hour use," Proper Potter continued. "All of the QuikTrips are as much.

"We certainly don't want to foreclose any opportunities for nurses getting off work late or starting early to come in and get a cup of coffee or grab some food at the end of a long day."

She said QuikTrip can address some of the residents' security concerns with constant surveillance.

"We always have employees on site," she siad. "They walk the store. Our stores are designed (so) they're elevated in the middle so that there's always visual surveillance on the entire site and our employees are always making sure that they're keeping an eye on what's going on outside of the stores."

Commissioner Lesley Davis asked that because QuikTrips have access on all sides, if it could close an entrance at night to better monitor the premises.

"We have three usable entrances," Proper Potter responded, adding that the rear entrance is not accessible by the public. "It's something that we could certainly look at doing if it becomes an issue. I'm not sure at this time that it's something that we would want to get into in the hearing."

Commissioner Brian Andersen, following up with a resident's concern, asked if QuikTrip could move the trash enclosure away from the east, near a home in Seville.

Proper Potter said her client would be open to the idea but that it would be a challenge given it has to make sure that the solid waste requirements are met for pickup.

"I know a lot of times the trucks don't like to back up," she said. "But absolutely it's something that we're willing to look into. We don't have a spot picked out right now so it's certainly something we'd be willing to work with staff."

Commissioner Charles Johnson, who lives in the Seville community, said the proposed use was right for the location.

"Riggs Road has a lot of traffic," he said. "The last gas station convenes as Ellsworth miles and miles away so westbound traffic would be able to turn into there and head north on Higley.

"I really like the site plan. I especially like the buffers on the south and the west sides and I think it provides for an attractive commercial use not only for those who move along Riggs at a very heavy traffic volume but also for community residents."

Commissioner Anthony Bianchi agreed with Andersen in moving the trash enclosure "as well anything to mitigate the impact to the neighbors."

He said the project's buffers and setbacks have been met or far exceeded what's required.

"This was zoned over 20 years ago on a General Plan with regards to Seville," Chairman Jan Simon said. "We don't have the opportunity to say yes or no. It is by-right.

"I don't have any issue with this. I think that the QT has actually made great strides to be a class above just a typical gas station."