By Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
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A gas station is in the works on Greenwood’s east side, but its initial plans caused some concern among city officials.
Casey’s General Stores, Inc. proposed building a station at 2105 E. County Line Road, on the southeast corner of Graham Road. The location will feature a convenience store and 12 gas pumps, according to city documents.
The location was chosen because Cummins is planning to build a major tech hub across the street, said Patrick Moon, a Farnsworth Group project manager who is representing Casey’s. The property and adjacent land have already been zoned commercial.
Casey’s recently came before the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals to request four variances to city zoning regulations. The first variance was to allow for the placement of three wall signs on the main building. City code only allows for one, according to city documents.
Casey’s also requested permission to place three signs on the fuel canopies, one more than the city allows, and to deviate from the allowed square footage for the canopy signs, city documents showed.
The most controversial request Casey’s made was to install an irregularly-shaped gas station pole sign that would exceed 100 square feet, which is against city regulations. City code allows for irregular shaped signs to be measured twice when making cuts, according to city documents.
A staff report took issue with the size of the sign and recommended the variance be denied because the 100 square feet as allowed by the city “more than fulfills the duty of notifying motorists,” city documents showed.
If approved, the report requested the sign panels be moved closer together to remove any gaps between them. The report also said the sign would be compliant if the supports for the sign were placed wider, so that the panels were placed in two rows of two instead of the one row of three and one row of one Casey’s proposed. The proposed sign would be approximately 201 square feet based on the city’s proposed measurements, according to city documents.
However, during the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, Moon told the board the initial measurement was incorrect for the sign, and was in fact more than double what they thought it would be. The proposed sign would be a maximum of 221 square feet., he said.
“There’s about 100 square feet of open air that is not really a sign,” Moon said.
During the discussion, city staff brought up the sizes of Casey’s signs at other Indiana locations.
A pole sign at a Casey’s in Indianapolis is lower off the ground and has two price indicators, said Dale Davis, senior city planner. A sign in Greenfield is also lower off the ground and has just one price indicator, he said.
Davis also brought up Casey’s signs in Franklin and Brownsburg, which are placed at ground level with price indicators.
The main reason city staff is against Casey’s proposed variance is because there are other options, and because it would be very large regardless of any gaps, Davis said.
A bigger sign is needed due to their proximity to Interstate 65, and the development of E-85 fuel. Other locations did not have E-85 available at the time, and they want to advertise it at this location, Moon said.
The board voted 3-1 to approve the sign variance with the condition that the sign be made smaller by removing a rooster from the sign and condensing the gaps by bringing the signs closer together. The board approved the other three variances unanimously.
A construction timeline has not been set.
