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Council approves variances for planned convenience store and gas station at 1810 Williams Drive with conditions
Summary
After a contested hearing and a revised site plan, Marietta's council approved site-specific variances to allow construction of a convenience store and fuel station at 1810 Williams Drive, subject to conditions including removal of existing pylon signs and design requirements for a front-yard dumpster enclosure.
Marietta City Council on Wednesday approved variances allowing a convenience store with fuel sales at 1810 Williams Drive, following a presentation by the applicant's attorney and public comment from neighbors and local stakeholders.
The applicant's attorney, Adam Rosen, told council the revised site plan adds three parking spaces and retains a single access point on Williams Drive. Rosen said the proposed store and pumps will serve nearby residents and businesses on Williams Drive and Guffin Lane and provide local fueling and convenience options that are not met by existing stations farther from the site. "This provides a location of convenience and fuel for those residents and businesses coming out off of Williams Drive to Guffin Lane onto Canton Road into the interstate," Rosen said.
Neighbors and other speakers raised safety and land-use concerns. Carol Brown, who said she lives less than a quarter-mile from the site, told council she had opposed an earlier plan chiefly because a proposed driveway on Guffin Lane would have been too close to a signalized intersection; Rosen said that access point had been removed. Another speaker, Sam Foster, said the city did not need additional gas stations and warned against long-term nonresidential uses that could be difficult to change in the future.
Why it matters: The property has been the subject of multiple earlier development attempts; council must weigh variances for parking, setbacks and sidewalks against traffic and neighborhood impacts. Approval allows a use permitted by zoning (commercial convenience and fuel sales) while granting exceptions to certain development standards because of the site's constraints.
Conditions and changes imposed by council: Council members added or confirmed several conditions during final action. The vote was conditioned to make all variances site-specific to this application and applicant only; require the removal of the existing pylon/billboard signage on the property (removal to occur within 30 days if not already removed); accept the revised site plan showing 14 internal parking spaces (three were added in the revised plan submitted the afternoon of the hearing); and require the dumpster enclosure to be constructed to match the building architecture rather than an exposed utility structure. Council also discussed a sidewalk landscape strip in lieu of a full sidewalk along Williams Drive.
Applicant and opponents: The applicant, Mike Panjwani, and local development advisor Bob Terrell spoke in favor of the application and presented examples of similar completed projects. Opponents included nearby residents and at least one neighborhood commenter who said the area already has existing fuel stations and raised long-term land-use concerns.
The council vote: After motions and an amendment to include the billboard removal, council approved the variances and supporting conditions. The motion carried.
