Gas Station Puts Pumps In Back

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Davidson, a north Mecklenburg town known for its strict controls on commercial development, will soon have a two-story convenience store with no gasoline pumps in front.

"We were actually kind of surprised that the developer agreed to it," said Planning Director Warren Burgess. "But that's what our ordinance requires: two-story buildings, placed up to the street."

Rusher Oil Co. Inc. of Salisbury paid $600,000 last month for the 1.2-acre site at Griffith Street and Southeast Drive in Davidson Gateway near Interstate 77's Exit 30. The 5,000-square-foot store will have a red-brick exterior to match other buildings in the 18-acre mixed-use development, a mezzanine-level restaurant, outdoor seating and pumps in back.

Eric Vargosko, a commercial broker with Crosland, worked with the investment partnership that owns the land to put the development deal together.

He brought in Babak Emadi of Urbana, a Charlotte urban design and architecture firm, to prepare a concept in consultation with the Davidson planning staff.

"Babak understood our ordinance and believed in what we are trying to do," Burgess said. "A two-story building helps provide a stronger sense of scale at the street edge and creates a much better pedestrian environment."

A 50-acre tract across the street from the convenience store eventually will become a mixed-use development and likely will generate more pedestrian traffic to the store, he said.

Burgess said the store will be allowed to have a ground-level sign of roughly 20 square feet and some signage on the building. But it can't install one of those tall, pole-mounted signs typical of roadside gas-and-go outlets.

When officials were writing the ordinance, he said, "We had long discussions about allowing convenience stores. Even those of us who live in Davidson drive cars and pump gas. So we made design the issue, not the use."

Planners met several times with Rusher Oil representatives.

"We showed them the whole area and talked about our vision for Davidson and what we want to accomplish," Burgess said. "They had appreciation for that. We had to deal with just a few access issues."
He said a recently approved CVS Pharmacy in Davidson also will be two-story with real windows -- not facade windows -- in front and no drive-through service (banned by ordinance).
A service station that operates near Exit 30 with the traditional gas pumps in front has been there for a long time, but if it ever expands, Burgess said, it, too, will have to meet the new commercial development requirements.

Fast-food restaurants sometimes resort to two-story buildings on small sites with limited parking space. The McDonald's on Fairview Road is a good example in Charlotte.

Burgess doesn't know of any other two-story convenience stores in the Charlotte area, but he would like to see more.

"I'm hoping this will serve as a model for others," he said.

Vargosko said Rusher Oil is still preparing construction plans, but he expects work to start this year.