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Commission approves Murphy Oil site plan with landscaping to be finalized with staff
Summary
Fairhope planners approved a site plan for a Murphy convenience store and fuel station, but commissioners pressed the developer to resolve landscaping: whether existing crepe myrtles may count toward required overstory tree totals and to ensure a 4‑foot hedge buffer along frontage.
The Fairhope Planning and Zoning Commission on July 6 voted unanimously to approve site plan SR2604 for a Murphy convenience store and fueling station at Planters Point, subject to staff recommendations and final landscaping details.
Staff presented SR2604 as largely compliant with site‑plan standards: parking, drainage (tying to existing on‑site detention), and traffic projections (about 40 AM and 48 PM peak trips). Staff noted perimeter and frontage tree requirements and flagged that some existing crepe myrtles from a prior MOP appear to lie in ALDOT right of way; staff proposed either relocating the trees on site or replacing them with like species to meet approved tree counts.
Wesley Miller of Grama Engineering described the proposal as a 2,800‑square‑foot Murphy convenience store with eight islands and 16 fueling positions and said the applicant had addressed prior DRC comments. "We are proposing a 2,800 square foot Murphy convenience store," Miller said.
Several commissioners expressed concern about counting non‑native crepe myrtles as substitutes for required overstory trees. "I would not want that to set a precedent at all," one commissioner said, urging preservation of native overstory species. Joe Comer, the project's landscape architect, said the team was relying primarily on overstory species and would leave existing crepe myrtles in place for understory credit; Comer added that if commissioners prefer, they could remove the existing crepe myrtles and plant overstory replacements. "We're not planting any new crepe myrtles," Comer said, adding that most proposed perimeter and frontage trees are overstory species.
Commissioners directed staff and the landscape architect to refine the plan to ensure required overstory trees and a solid 48‑inch hedge along the frontage. After that clarification and the staff conditions, the commission approved SR2604 unanimously.
The approval is subject to final landscaping and hedgerow details being resolved with staff before the project proceeds to the council (as applicable) and permitting.
