The city of Beavercreek Planning Commission recommended approving the proposal in the agenda item report, with some modification. The City Council voted to move the proposal onto a second reading. After the second reading, the Council will vote to approve or reject the proposal.
Several Beavercreek residents attended the meeting to speak out against the proposal, citing concerns with possible noise pollution, air pollution, and potential well water contamination.
“Many residents in the area are ... still on well water” said Joseph Bellomy, who lives west of the proposed gas station. “You wanna say that you have fiberglass storage tanks, but they still leak, they still crack. You’re getting into the water table at that point.”
Other residents said another gas station in the area is unnecessary in the first place.
“We’re only two blocks away from that Marathon station, so there’s plenty of gas here,” said resident Lynn Brucker.
The opposition to the proposal comes several months after a similar response to a proposed RaceTrac development. While the development was never planned to be a truck stop, some elements, such as truck refueling stations and parking spaces, drew concern from residents.
In March, the Beavercreek Planning Commission approved rezoning property to become a RaceTrac gas station and convenience store, but prohibiting that space from being used as a “truck stop”
Included in residents’ opposition was a change.org petition with 1,426 signatures. A petition, posted by Bellomy, has also surfaced in opposition to the gas station. It has 396 signatures so far.
Miami Twp. Wawa plans
The Miami Township Zoning Commission heard a proposal Tuesday night for a Wawa Food Market and Gas Station along Springboro Pike, at the northeast corner of Miami Village Drive.
According to Max McConnell, senior planner for the township, the commission recommended approval for the development plan. That recommendation will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees in their Sept. 3 meeting.
McConnell said he has been “made aware of community feelings” through a Facebook group from a neighborhood near the planned site, and through individuals asking the township directly.
He says most residents are asking for additional information on the project, and that it’s a “healthy mix” of questions, support, and concerns.
The property was previously owned by Premier Health and was sold in June to Cleveland-based company Davids Rombach LLC. Earlier this year, Wawa broke ground on its first Ohio location, in Warren County, as part of a planned 60-store expansion into Ohio.
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