No Kroger Gas Station in Clintonville

Kroger gave a presentation about their proposed gas station at North Broadway and High on  Thursday (17 July 2008) at the Clinton Heights Lutheran Church. There were about 30 or so folks in attendance.

Chris Gawronski introduced Christopher Rinehart. Christopher is an attorney representing Kroger. Also present from Kroger were

• Linda Patterson (Senior Real Estate Manager for the Great Lakes region)
• Steve Fuller (Real Estate Manager for the Great Lakes region)
• Don Rains (Store Coordinator for central Ohio)

Noticeably absent was the store manager (who was apparently on vacation).

Christopher showed two sets of drawings–one set was an artist’s rendering of the proposed station–it showed four islands of pumps (running perpendicular to High Street) with a kiosk in the middle of the islands.  The second drawing was a survey map showing the placement of the station–it showed the station sitting in the northern portion of the Kroger lot, consuming the panhandle that touches Kenworth Road. The kiosk and piers of the islands appeared to be made of brick; the project was estimated to cost up to $700,000.

Christopher said that the proposed hours of operation would be from 6:00AM to 10:00PM daily. The kiosk would be staffed by a clerk who would, in addition to collecting payments for gas, also sell “ancillary items” (examples given were cigarettes and candy). Folks in the audience asked whether alcohol would be sold; as the area is dry, Kroger indicated that no alcohol would be sold from the kiosk.

In order to build the gas station, Kroger would require a zoning change. The current zoning is C4 which does not allow a gas station; instead, Kroger wants to apply for a CPD. The CPD would allow for more stringent conditions to be placed on the business than those from traditional zoning. The CPD process (as described by Chris Gawronski) involves community input and review (via the Clintonville Area Commission) as well as review by various city departments. The process culminates with a vote by Columbus City Council. Council’s decision can then be subjected to a referendum should folks be dissatisfied with said decision.

The audience mentioned several concerns:

1. The gas station doesn’t seem to fit into the proposed Clintonville plan, particularly with regard to the High/Broadway intersection acting as the gateway/town-square for Clintonville.
2. The gas station would cause increased traffic, noise, light, litter, and pollution for the nearby residents.
3. The gas station would drive down nearby property values.
4. The gas station doesn’t let itself to making the area pedestrian friendly and is a clear violation of the urban commercial overlay.
5. Once Kroger decides to abandon the station, the lot will suffer from “abandoned gas station syndrome” whereby no future would-be lot owner will risk buying/improving the land out of fear of liability for future clean-up should a problem be discovered (one audience member described it as turning the lot into a future “Super Fund Site”).
6. Kroger Clintonville customers don’t want the gas station (in response to repeated citings by the Kroger folks of a nebulous “study” saying that customers want gas stations–a study that was not conducted in Clintonville).

Several alternatives were suggested:

• Locate the station at the Graceland Kroger (where there is much more space as well as a larger buffer for the surrounding residential area).
• Locate the station in the abandoned BP gas station at I-71/Broadway.
• Direct customers to the Olentangy River Road Kroger location (which has a gas station).

The Kroger folks solicited concerns about the store itself (several members of the audience pointed out that the Kroger folks only came to the community when it wanted something from the community, versus pro-actively working with the community to improve the store). The audience provided numerous examples of the sub-standard nature of the store and inattentiveness/unresponsiveness of the store manager. The Kroger staff took copious notes as the litany of problems and concerns were detailed.

Christopher indicated that he had already begun the application process for the CPD. When questioned as to why he had already started the application prior to soliciting community input, he gave a vague answer about efficiency. A more likely reason is that they want to have the CPD pushed through City Council just after the fall general election (but before the 2009 general election). This timing would substantially increase the number of signatures required to get a referendum on the ballot (from approximately 5000 on a typical off-year to 15,000 or more, depending on the turn-out for this fall’s presidential election).

Christopher promised to distribute electronic versions of the drawings to anyone who contacted him. He also said that folks could contact him about concerns regarding the proposal or issues regarding the store in general. His contact information is

crinehart@rrgovlaw.com
+1 614 221 0717 (office)
+1 614 221 1278 (fax)