Neighbors sue Columbia over Murphy gas station approved for North Main
North Main neighbors who have spent the past month organizing against a proposed Murphy USA gas station at Sunset Drive have now taken the fight to court.
Several residents, as well as neighborhood associations in Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace, Earlewood and Cottontown have filed a lawsuit against the city of Columbia. The suit asks a judge to reverse the city Board of Zoning Appeals’ February decision to permit the gas station, despite the same board denying similar plans for a Circle K in 2023, and despite the neighborhoods’ opposition.
Residents have raised nearly $7,000 for their legal fight, receiving 50 donations over the last month.
“I think we’ve been showing that there’s pretty broad support,” for an appeal, Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace neighborhood association president Bob Petrulis previously told The State.
The appeal was filed March 30 in Richland County Circuit Court. It challenges a February 3-2 vote by the city’s zoning board that granted Murphy Oil USA a special exception to build a convenience store and a 16-pump gas station on the roughly 3.3-acre property that currently includes an Auto Money Title Loans office.
The intersection has become a lightning rod in a broader debate over what the North Main corridor should become. Millions of dollars have gone toward making the area look and feel more appealing to residents and small businesses.
Opponents of the gas station argue the project doesn’t fit with a 20-year-old city plan that specifically identifies the Sunset Drive intersection as an important gateway for the North Main corridor and recommends redevelopment that improves walkability, retail and housing.
In the legal appeal, neighbors are arguing that the zoning board “abused its discretion” in allowing the gas station. Neighbors are asking a judge to reverse the decision and to send the case back to the zoning board “for further deliberation.” The neighborhoods have hired attorney Joseph McNeila with the law firm Robinson Gray Stepp & Laffitte.
What the lawsuit argues
When granting a zoning special exception, the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals must look at 12 criteria. Those include requirements that a project won’t have a negative impact on the “aesthetic character” of the area, that it won’t be “detrimental to the public interest,” and that it doesn’t proliferate or create a concentration of similar uses, among other rules. The 12 criteria are laid out in city code.
The court appeal argues that the zoning board didn’t follow those criteria, saying, “the Board failed to reconcile overwhelming evidence showing Murphy’s application did not comply with the standards for a special exception.”
In plain terms, residents’ legal argument is this:
- Neighbors say the board didn’t actually require Murphy to prove it met all 12 standards. In the hearing, at least one board member said she didn’t believe all 12 had to be satisfied. A notice informing Murphy Oil USA that its request had been granted also specifically notes that board member Sydney Lanham said during the hearing that “she did not believe all twelve criteria needed to be met as there was not a black or white answer for some criteria.” Lanham voted to approve the gas station. In that same notice, the zoning board informed Murphy Oil USA that its request did meet all 12 criteria and was approved.
- They argue the developer offered little evidence on key issues, such as traffic impacts, the concentration of nearby convenience stores, and whether the proposal complies with city plans for the area. City planning staff identified at least six convenience stores within 1.5 miles of the planned Murphy station, outlined in Murphy’s Feb. 5 application to the zoning board. Neighbors argue developers offered “only a boilerplate assertion” that the project met all 12 requirements.
- They say the board relied on “speculative claims,” including that Murphy was one of the only feasible projects for the site and that it would drive out other nearby convenience stores.
- They argue the record included substantial public testimony warning the project could worsen traffic and pedestrian safety, that residents did not want more convenience stores, conflict and that the plans didn’t fit the area and could create a nuisance, and that the board “failed to reconcile” that evidence with its decision.
Similar plans rejected in 2023
A similar gas station pitch was rejected in 2023, when the zoning board voted 6-0 to deny a Circle K there after residents raised similar concerns.
Murphy’s developer, Jason Stern, told the zoning board in February that the Murphy plan was better, in part because it would remove the title loan office that currently occupies a portion of the site.
City staff have since confirmed that the title loan business is expected to be rebuilt, though it’s not clear exactly where. The property, currently owned by SC Capital Properties LLC, will be subdivided, with the gas station going on the portion of the site nearest the intersection.
Rebuilding the title loan office would require separate city approval because of restrictions on where and how large title loan offices can be in Columbia. That case is expected to go to the city’s Planning Commission on April 9, with a vote potentially going to City Council by May.
Meanwhile, Columbia’s Design/Development Review Commission deferred a vote on the gas station plans earlier this month after identifying several issues with the gas station’s design, 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.
The design board’s decision does not impact the zoning board’s ruling.
Board of Zoning Appeals chair Kathryn Fenner declined to comment on the case.
