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<br />and one for the self-service gas station. By providing 25 on-site
<br />spaces, the project complies with the conditional use site
<br />standards for both uses.
<br />The parking requirement for mixed commercial uses under
<br />the same roof in Little Rock, Arkansas, is less than the
<br />requirement for a restaurant built on a detached site. Gas
<br />stations with convenience scores and fast-food restaurants
<br />located in a single structure must have three spaces per 1,000
<br />square feet of gross floor area, while free-standing fast-food
<br />restaurants must have four. According co Richard Wood,
<br />manager of the Zoning and Subdivision Division, the city has
<br />experienced no problems with this regulation because "most
<br />developers are cognizant of the need to provide sufficient
<br />parking to overlap both uses."
<br />Landscaping/Buffering. An expansion of activity at a gas
<br />station site can result in an increased amount of noise from traffic,
<br />car radios, and loudspeakers from order menus as
<br />well as an increase in vehicle exhaust and cooking
<br />odors. Municipalities try to control such nuisances
<br />and ensure compatibility with the surrounding area
<br />by requiring that a certain percentage and specific
<br />portions of the site be landscaped. .
<br />The current Minneapolis code requires a
<br />minimum of 20 percent of the lot area, minus the
<br />area of the building, co be landscaped for all
<br />aucomobile-related uses, including automobile
<br />combination convenience facilities. In areas
<br />bordering B-1 or residential districts, a strip no
<br />less than five feet wide must be organically
<br />landscaped. In addition, speaker boxes are not to
<br />be audible on any residential property adjacent to
<br />the business. Mter twO or more convictions within
<br />a 12-mon th period for violations of the city noise
<br />ordinance, the speaker boxes will be removed.
<br />Rancho Cucamonga has adopted performance
<br />standards co ensure that the use does not interfere
<br />with nearby properties. The regulations require
<br />that noise levels measured at the property line of a
<br />facility with a drive-through restaurant shall not
<br />exceed normal background noise levels for the
<br />surrounding area. The city recently approved a 24-hour
<br />combination facility located in close proximiry to a residential
<br />area. Nearby citizens complained that a round-the-clock
<br />operation would create a nuisance. The city instituted a
<br />mitigating condition to limit the hours of operation, but the
<br />developer has appealed that action.
<br />The proposed layout of the site of a combination gas station/
<br />convenience store and two free-standing fast-food restaurants
<br />with drive-through lanes in Missouri City, Texas, places the site
<br />adjacent to a residential development. Landscaping
<br />requirements include the construction of a 30-foot-deep
<br />transitional buffetyard and an opaque or nearly opaque screen
<br />consisting of a wall, fence, or year-round vegetation to a height
<br />of at least eight feet, in addition to a minimum total
<br />landscaping equal to at least 20 percent of the area of the site
<br />not covered by buildings.
<br />Signs. The increasing trend of independent uses combining
<br />under one roof can result in multiple signs at each site. "If each
<br />subtenant is allowed a sign on the same building face without
<br />limitations, eventually the building will be overcrowded with
<br />signs," says Nancy Fong, who argues that a certain amount of
<br />control is necessary for such uses. In response to the anticipated
<br />increase in proposals for combined uses such as gas stations with
<br />
<br />fast-food restaurants, the city recently amended its sign
<br />ordinance to allow signs for subtenant businesses. The
<br />ordinance allows one wall sign per subtenant, with no more
<br />than two per station. The maximum area for subtenant wall
<br />signs is 12 square feet. The subtenant sign area is part of the
<br />allowable 10 percent of the building face that is not to exceed
<br />150 square feet for the service station. No more than two
<br />monument signs are allowed for each service station, and one
<br />subtenant sign is allowed per monument sign. Product, service,
<br />and price signs for the subtenants are not allowed.
<br />Chesterfield, Virginia, provides a sign area bonus for gasoline
<br />service stations where the building is occupied by multiple
<br />franchise businesses. For service stations located on a free-
<br />standing site and not within a shopping center, the basic free-
<br />standing sign area is 50 square feet. A building located within a
<br />shopping center with multiple franchises can receive a
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<br />A well-designed site enables several services to operate simultaneously. This site
<br />in Warrenville, Illinois, provides self-service gasoline, drive-through fast-food
<br />access, and a convenience food store.
<br />
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<br />. 10-square-foot bonus from the basic free-standing sign area of
<br />20 square feet. Gasoline sales get .an: additional 25 square feet,
<br />which can be used only co advertise fuel prices.
<br />
<br />Looking into the Future
<br />Service station convenience trends may be changing again soon.
<br />McDonald's is currently testing the market with a new idea that
<br />resembles a high-tech version of the drive-ins from the 1950s.
<br />While at the self-service fuel pump, the customer has the option
<br />of ordering food from a computer screen and charging the
<br />entire purchase to a gas or credit card. A McDonald's employee
<br />will then deliver the order to the car while the customer is
<br />pumping gas, eliminating the need for the drive-through lane
<br />altogether. If this service catches on, it will require yet another
<br />reconfiguration of the gas station site.
<br />It is possible that the gas station has undergone the greatest
<br />transition of any retail industry over the last century. Planners
<br />can benefit from reexamining theit ordinances and responding
<br />co changing trends in the industry. Just as communities have
<br />adopted specific language in their ordinances co address gas
<br />stations/convenience stotes, the future may ultimately require
<br />the codes co focus on the addition of fast-food restaurants co
<br />these sites, regardless of whatever form they may take.
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