Planning commission denies Kwik Trip fueling station near residential zone after debate over lighting, transparency and traffic

LONGMONT — The Longmont Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 15 denied a conditional use site plan and three related administrative modification requests for a proposed Kwik Trip convenience store and fueling station at 733 Ken Pratt Boulevard.

The commission voted 3-2 to deny the application after more than two hours of presentations and questioning by commissioners about lighting levels, building transparency, landscaping, traffic and floodplain mitigation. Staff had recommended conditional approval with a condition that the site plan recordation not occur until the Stafford Subdivision replat A was approved and recorded.

The project, as presented by Senior Planner Kristen Cote, would develop about 1.844 acres with a 5,312-square-foot convenience store and 16 fuel pumps. The applicant sought three administrative modifications to Longmont development standards: a modest increase in average site lighting from the 2.0 foot‑candles maximum to 2.26 foot‑candles and the fueling area from 10.0 to 10.67 foot‑candles; a reduction in required building transparency (40% on the north facade, 41% on the south vs. the 50% code standard); and a landscaping deviation that would provide 0 required trees and 45 shrubs where code requires 3 trees and 15 shrubs.

Cote told commissioners the modifications were evaluated under Section 15.05.080(b)(7) of the Longmont Development Code (administrative modification criteria) and listed the applicant’s stated reasons: technical and utility constraints for landscaping, structural/operational reasons for reduced glazing, and…