Planning Commission to consider zoning change for convenience store

By Beverly Bryant/News Director

The Ponca City Planning Commission will consider and vote on a proposed ordinance rezoning a tract of land on the southwest corner of Highland Avenue and Waverly Street at its meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall.

The rezoning would be from R-1 Single Family Residential to C-2 General Commercial.

Plans are to construct a convenience store at the corner that will feature state-of-the-art design with drive-through facilities, integrated franchise food services inside, and the sale of both gasoline and diesel fuel for all types of vehicles, including trucks and “off road” vehicles.

In a summary to the Planning Commission, Development Services Director Chris Henderson said that the applicants sought to zone the corner of Waverly Street and Grand Avenue last year for the same intended purpose. That proposal was tabled by the City Commission in the face of protests and concerns by area residents, the local school district, and the City as owners of the YMCA.

This parcel would represent the fourth development proposal presented for consideration that involves undeveloped land west of Waverly Street since the construction of the YMCA at Waverly and Grand Avenue.

Henderson wrote that two other development proposals on property immediately east of Waverly have been completed or are under construction, all of which represent millions of dollars in new construction on the city’s west side since 2012.

A multi-family residential development has been completed at the southeast corner of the intersection and last month the City Commission approved a final plat for a 40-lot subdivision on land formerly occupied by the Airline Theater west of the intersection.

Both Waverly and Highland have been improved in the past 10 years, except for Highland west of the intersection, Henderson said. The latest traffic count map indicates 9,000 vehicles per day travel on Waverly. Numbers are much lower on Highland, with 3,800 vehicles east of the intersection and 2,400 west of the intersection. That number is expected to increase with the new housing development.

Included in the summary for the Planning Commission is an excerpt from the Ponca City Comprehensive Plan Document adopted in 2009 which anticipates commercial land uses at this corner and the larger tract of 57 acres surrounding it, specifically identified as the “West Development Node.”

A site plan exhibit for the proposed convenience store appears to have excess hard surface, the same issue that derailed the proposed zoning petition last year at Grand and Waverly.

Henderson said the zoning ordinance clearly states that the provision of off-street parking for semi-trucks redefines the proposed use as a truck stop and would require the approval of a Special Use Permit. No application has been submitted for a Special Use Permit, he said. Because of that, the final detailed site plan approved by staff will not contain excess hard surfaces that would otherwise permit off-street parking by semi-trucks. There will be a loading and unloading zone for the store, however.

The Planning Commission will have three options to consider at tonight’s meeting: A) Approve a smaller parcel than described, eliminating any possibility of hard surface parking for semi-trucks; B) Approve the petition as submitted, or C) Deny the petition.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation then would go to the City Commission for final action.

A group of residents in the nearby Selvey addition have signed and presented a petition protesting the proposed convenience store.