In a split vote, the Jerome Township Trustees approved a rezoning application that will pave the way for RaceTrac to construct on an 8.99-acre area along U.S. 42. The Atlanta-based company plans to build a convenience store that sells fresh food, illustrated above, accompanied by an area for unleaded fuel for passenger cars and trucks and a separate area for diesel fuel for semis.
(Graphic submitted)
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The site plan above shows the future RaceTrac convenience store and gas station. The portion of the development located with frontage along U.S. 42 will be a canopy with unleaded fuel and a convenience store. Behind that area will be a canopy with diesel fueling stations. The parking spots initially planned for semi-trucks will be eliminated and are shown with an ‘X’ over them. The scale for trucks, illustrated by the oval to the right of the parking spaces, will also be eliminated. A road will be constructed to extend from the area where Watkins-California Road ends – at the top right corner of the graphic – to enter both areas of the site.
(Graphic submitted)
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Whether or not it’s considered a “truck stop,” a new, 9-acre gas station and convenience store is on its way to Jerome Township.
In a split vote Tuesday, the Board of Trustees voted to rezone the land near the corner of U.S. 42 and U.S. 33, at the end of Watkins-California Road, from Rural Residential District (RU) to Planned Development District (PD), which would allow for RaceTrac to build there.
The township’s zoning department staff, Zoning Commission and the Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission all recommended denial of the application to rezone, noting that they did not feel a truck stop was an appropriate land use for the area. The township’s comprehensive plan dictates the area should be designated for “regional retail” uses.
Trustees Wezlynn Davis and Megan Sloat voted to reject the Zoning Commission’s recommendation, while Trustee Barry Adler dissented in the 2-1 vote.
Debate revolved around whether the Atlanta-based convenience store and gas station – which will have a separate canopy for semis to fuel with diesel – constitutes a “truck stop.”
“We are not doing a truck stop,” said Laura Comek, attorney for the developers.
She claimed that truck stops generally have overnight accommodations, showers and lockers, so she feels the proposed RaceTrac development is actually just a gas station.
Although the RaceTrac application includes a scale in the diesel fueling area, Comek said “absolutely no” when asked by Sloat if that tilted the facility toward a truck stop.
She said weigh stations are generally operated as separate businesses with employees, while RaceTrac’s scale will just allow semi operators to use it after fueling their trucks.
“It doesn’t make me Goodyear Tires because we have the air,” Comek said.
When Adler asked her how a “truck stop” would be legally defined, she responded that she was “livid” he would even ask the question.
Pete Griggs, legal counsel for the township, explained that a standard “regional retail” district as defined by the township’s zoning resolution allows for gas stations “except for” marine service stations and gas stops. However, the township’s zoning resolution does not define “truck stop.”
Griggs said ambiguity in the code generally favors the landowner when challenged in court, although the “common sense” interpretation is considered as well.
“I don’t see a legal issue if you were to approve it,” Griggs said before adding, “or disapprove it,” based on the township’s land use plan.
Davis said that she struggles to classify the RaceTrac development as a truck stop simply because it has a diesel fueling station and queuing stations designed for commercial vehicles.
“Every single gas station I’ve ever been to has diesel,” Davis said, mentioning the Marathon gas station also on U.S. 42.
Davis noted that, in private conversations with the developer, she requested that they remove parking spots for semi-trucks, which they complied with. Comek said the developers met with each trustee individually prior to the public meeting.
During the hearing Tuesday, Comek eventually offered to remove the truck scale from the development.
“We can get rid of that,” she said.
Resident Lynda Chapman said she felt characterizing the RaceTrac as anything other than a truck stop was just playing a game of semantics.
“It brings me back to the days of the Clinton scandal” and haggling over the definition of a phrase, she said.
Chapman said she feels it is naïve to believe that RaceTrac wouldn’t have the activity of a typical truck stop just because the truck parking spaces were removed.
“To me, it’s still a truck stop,” she said.
Adler agreed with Chapman.
Sloat said the removal of the truck parking spaces and scale was done after the reviews by the Zoning Commission and LUC. She said eliminating those amenities pushes it farther from the “truck stop” classification, in her opinion.
“I feel a lot more comfortable… With those modifications I think it’s a lot closer to what I would envision,” she said.
The trustees approved the rezoning with the stipulation that the truck parking spaces and scale would be removed.
In other business:
– The Board of Trustees reminded the public that it will host a second special meeting regarding limited home rule at 5:30 p.m. today.
The meeting will be held rain or shine and is currently scheduled to take place at the Firehouse Park shelter located behind the Jerome Township Division of Fire Station 210, 9689 U.S. 42 North. However, the meeting will be moved indoors in the case of rain.
Food will be provided while supplies last. Attendees are asked to bring a lawn chair, as seating will be limited.
– The trustees also noted that the Jerome Township Division of Fire is holding a Touch a Truck event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Glacier Ridge Metro Park.