Columbia board punts on gas station design, neighbors raise thousands to fight it
A plan to build a large Murphy USA gas station at the gateway intersection of Sunset Drive and North Main Street, widely opposed by area neighborhoods, hit a hiccup Thursday when Columbia’s Design/Development Review Commission voted to defer a vote on the project’s design. The delay comes as neighbors have raised thousands of dollars and are weighing a lawsuit to try to block the gas station.
“I’d say it’s a temporary win,” said Bob Petrulis, president of the Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace neighborhood association. “What this does is to really kind of push things into the future a little bit, which I think is helpful to us.”
Developers are planning to build a 16-pump gas station and convenience store at the intersection of Sunset Drive and North Main Street, a corner that residents have long hoped would become something more walkable and vibrant. Those hopes are supported by city plans that identify the corner as ripe for something more neighborhood-focused.
“Now they’re trying to convince us that the best we can do is another gas station,” Petrulis said.
City officials already cleared one major hurdle for the project in February, when Columbia’s Board of Zoning Appeals voted 3-2 to grant a special exception allowing a gas station and convenience store at the site — despite the same board unanimously rejecting a similar Circle K proposal in 2023, and despite broad opposition from area residents.
Residents in Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace, Earlewood and Cottontown have collectively raised nearly $5,300 to fund a possible legal fight against the city. Neighborhood leaders have already engaged an attorney and are weighing a court appeal of the zoning board’s decision to permit the gas station.
The decision by the city’s design board to defer a vote on the gas station’s aesthetics doesn’t impact the zoning board’s decision to allow the gas station.
City planning staff said the proposal didn’t meet key requirements in the North Main Corridor design guidelines, including how the convenience store sits on the corner and how the site handles pedestrian access. Developers asked the board to defer its vote so that they could come back with revisions.
Neighbors oppose ‘lipstick on a pig’ gas station plans
Residents have been outspoken in opposing the gas station, which they say hurts the momentum currently underway in the North Main corridor. Millions of dollars have gone toward making the area look and feel more appealing to residents and small businesses.
Zoning officials in February heard nearly an hour of testimony from area residents who urged the board to reject the gas station plans.
“We are poised to make this gateway intersection something special, allowing a major convenience store and gas station would be a step backward,” said Basil Garzia, a longtime Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace resident, at that February meeting.
On Thursday before the Design/Development Review Commission, longtime North Columbia resident Betsy Newman quoted from the city’s 2005 Villages of North Columbia master plan. That document described the intersection as a “gateway” and said “a key to changing the perception” of the area would be the removal of an existing service station.
“Excuse the metaphor, but a gas station there is like, it doesn’t matter how many frosted windows you have or how many shrubs you have around it, it’s putting lipstick on a pig,” Newman told the commission.
Another recurring point in the gas station debate is over what would happen to the Auto Money Title Loans business currently on the corner.
Developers framed the Murphy project as a trade: a new gas station in exchange for getting rid of the title-loan office. But now it appears the title loan business will be rebuilt, though it’s not clear exactly where.
“If it’s a question of, we either have the title loan place, or the title loan place and the gas station, that’s not a better deal,” Petrulis said.
The neighborhood associations are still weighing whether to sue the city to appeal the zoning board’s ruling. They have until the end of this month to decide before the legal window to appeal closes. Residents have raised $5,283 through 38 total donations for that effort as of Thursday evening. Their goal is $10,000.
“I think we’ve been showing that there’s pretty broad support,” for an appeal, Petrulis said.
