Winter Springs commission approves Wawa project with conditions, ties approval to parking fixes

The Winter Springs City Commission voted to approve a conditional-use application, site plan and development agreement for a Wawa convenience store and gas canopy at the Winter Springs Marketplace on Oct. 13, 2023, subject to conditions including a limit on monument signage and validation of several applicant commitments by the city manager.

Commissioner Sarah Baker moved to approve the applications with the staff-recommended sign limitation (a single ground monument sign at the State Road 434 and Tuscilla Road intersection) and to require that additional applicant offerings presented at the hearing—such as a pedestrian sidewalk connection, a decorative knee wall, outdoor seating, and proposed electric vehicle charging—be documented on the final engineered plans and validated by the city manager prior to issuance of site work permits. Commissioner Paul Diaz seconded the motion, which passed by recorded roll call.

The approval was expressly contingent on passage of item 401, a related site-plan modification to add additional parking and to realign Roberts Family Lane; staff advised that the Wawa site plan would not be effective until the parking/road changes in item 401 were approved and any required State or district permits (including St. Johns River Water Management District requirements) were satisfied.

Staff and the planning-and-zoning board had split recommendations. Senior planner Janelle Garnett and Community Development Director Terlyn Ro told commissioners that the proposal included multiple waiver requests—most notably a requested deviation from the town-center principal-building setback that would place the convenience store well behind the intersection frontage— and that staff recommended denial of the conditional use/site plan/development agreement because the proposed layout conflicted with town-center design goals centered on pedestrian orientation and street-wall definition.

The applicant, developer Equinox and Wawa representatives, answered a series of engineering and planning questions at the dais. Ryan Stall of Equinox described changes made in response to public feedback (reducing fueling capacity, adjusting colors and materials to match the marketplace, adding pedestrian accommodations) and emphasized community benefits, including hiring plans and philanthropic programs. Craig Green of Wawa emphasized that Wawa typically hires 30–40 associates at a new store and cited company benefits such as pay and employee ownership programs.

City and applicant engineers discussed operational constraints. Scott Carney, Wawa’s engineer, and Cory Sitler of Kimley-Horn explained why rotating the store and moving the canopy closer to State Road 434 (which would make the building front the street) posed traffic-management, loading and tanker-delivery conflicts, and raised questions about queuing and circulation that would require additional transportation analysis. City engineering staff and consultants noted that any substantial reconfiguration would need new engineering, updated traffic and queuing analyses, and seasonal groundwater checks for underground fuel-tank design.

Public comment was extensive and split. Some residents and nearby homeowners’ association leaders supported the project for local convenience, jobs and philanthropic programs; others, including the planning-and-zoning board’s chair, urged adherence to town-center code and raised pedestrian-safety and environmental concerns—particularly the proposed distance of the principal building from the street and proximity of underground tanks to a detention pond.

Commissioners debated the tension between the town-center code’s intent (shallow setbacks and a defined street wall) and the economic benefit of approving a high-demand tenant on a constrained corner lot. Several commissioners said they wanted Wawa in Winter Springs but wanted the project to meet town-center standards where practicable.

The commission’s motion directed the city manager to validate that the applicant’s on-the-record offerings were incorporated into final plans and to ensure that item 401’s technical reviews (transportation, utilities and water-management permitting) are completed before site work permits are issued. The decision includes a condition that the development agreement reflect the commitments approved by the commission.

What happens next: The approved site plan and development agreement will not be effective until the related parking/Robert’s Family Lane modifications in item 401 are validated and any required permits are obtained. Staff recommended that the applicant formally revise plan documents when they submit engineering drawings reflecting the offered concessions so staff can verify compliance prior to permit issuance.