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Monday, June 20, 2016
One year and three days ago, we first brought to you the report of a new convenience store/gas station/carwash Sheetz complex out in far North Raleigh, and now we’re happy to report that site work is well underway.
According to the site plans for case SP-38-15, the new Sheetz would come in at a total of 6,489 square feet and include a 923 square-foot carwash and 47 parking spaces. This project will create around an additional 74,000 square feet of impervious surface on the site.
City of Raleigh
The site plan for the new Sheetz
Thankfully it’s not within the Neuse River Buffer nor in a flood zone or wetlands area, but that’s still a lot of land that all the sudden can’t absorb the rainfall.
Raleigh’s newest Sheetz is being developed by a subsidiary of Tribek Properties, a Charlotte real estate firm that’s developed everything from Walgreens and Food Lions to Vitamin Shoppes and Wal-Marts. There’s no apparent connection between Tribek Properties and game show host Alex Trebek, which means we’ll have to save the Sean Connery jokes for another day.
Although the company lists properties for sale throughout North Carolina and Virginia, it appears from County records that this site off Louisburg Road is the only piece of land they currently own in Raleigh/Wake County.
It does appear they initially had plans to develop a Walgreens on the site, but thankfully these plans fell through and now local residents will be getting something much better in its place.
One thing that’s odd but probably not too significant: while County Records show the Tribek LLC as the property owner — they bought the land in 2013 — the address for the LLC on County records lists the Sheetz headquarters in Altoona, PA.
However, State records for the LLC list the Tribek headquarters in Charlotte as the address. Oh well.
Although the Planning Commission found that the site plans met the conditions for approval in October of last year, a number of tasks were laid out that Tribek had to accomplish before they could begin work on the site.
Before they can build one of these beauties, Tribek has to pay off the City
These conditions include a “nitrogen offset payment” to the City, a fee-in-lieu for a sidewalk along Ramble Way and Louisburg Road, the approval of a transit easement and more.
It appears that enough of these conditions have been met for site work to begin, at least, as permits for a retaining wall at the site were issued one June 15 to the Wimco Corporation. As we’ve mentioned a few times, retaining walls are generally one of the final steps in the site work process, so it’s likely we’ll be reporting on the new building permits before too long, giving us a prime opportunity to recycle 95 percent of today’s post.
It does not appear as if this project would be affected by an ordinance adopted last year that limits the development of gas stations and convenience stores within a certain distance of residential areas, so this store has the potential to be open 24-hours.
The change imposed certain restrictions on gas stations or “co-branded” gas stations that include convenience stores if they are within 200 feet of a residential zoning district. Hours of operation cannot exceed 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., total pumps allowed are no more than eight, backlighting of the canopies is prohibited, and a significant buffer most be placed on the property to block out noise impacts.
Interestingly enough, the catalyst for the ordinance was a Sheetz gas station that had been proposed at the corner of Buffaloe and New Hope Roads. Here’s how Record reporter described the neighborhood’s opposition to the project:
According to Michi Vojta, who began to advocate for neighborhoods during that case, people were voicing opposition not because it was a standard gas station. It was the opposite. Big and red. Brightly lit. Music blaring. Open 24 hours every single day of the year. All backed up right next to 16 residential lots in an area that was zoned mostly residential-6, meaning six residential units per acre.
Thankfully, the Sheetz off Louisburg will not present these kind of problems, and we look forward to its grand opening.
James Borden / Raleigh Public Record
This Sheetz on Green Road is located next to an apartment complex
