City reins in gas stations, mini-warehouses
Council considering ordinance to limit development; dollar stores may be next
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Last fall, the Kokomo Plan Commission placed a moratorium on new developments involving gas stations and storage facilities. Both had been growing, and there were concerns that the city’s comprehensive plan was too lenient in where they could be placed.
That ban is on the cusp of being lifted. The Kokomo Common Council passed a new ordinance on first reading on April 10 which would limit the development of new gas stations and storage facilities. If it passes again on April 25, the rules would prevent new gas stations from opening within a mile of an existing station. And storage facilities would be limited to industrial areas.
“Right now, we have close to 50 gas stations within the city limits,” said Kokomo Plan Commission Director Greg Sheline. “The goal was to not add fuel to that fire. So, you cannot be within 5,500 feet of a current gas station, or within 500 feet of a residential zoned, residential used lot.”
Sheline noted that the new ordinance also will require new gas stations to be built with higher architectural standards.
“If we put new ones in, they would be built a little bit nicer than what some of our current ones are,” said Sheline. “The facade will be more brick.”
A similar requirement will be applied to storage facilities, also known as mini-warehouses. The architectural standards are rising there, too. But where a new storage facility may develop will be greatly prohibited. Currently, mini-warehouses are allowed on commercial-zoned property.
“The storage facilities now have to be in either light industrial or heavy industrial zones,” said Sheline. “We've been getting complaints about too many of them being close to residential neighborhoods. I know that's where the developers want to be, but we're getting complaints.
“We thought this might be the best way to solve that. And we put some architectural standards on those as well so they'd be a little bit nicer to look at. I mean, there's only so much you can do for a storage facility. But that will help make them look a lot nicer.”
Sheline explained that the ordinance change will not impact any project currently in development and approved by the plan commission. Everything in process only has to adhere to the existing standards. Anything approved after the ordinance is passed will be affected by the new rules.
There are no gas stations or storage facility projects waiting to come before the plan commission presently. The last of those to be developed under the existing standards are located along Dixon Road. It is important to note that the new standards do not extend to convenience stores that do not include fuel pumps.
Given the success of this six-month moratorium and review, Sheline said that a similar approach will be taken soon with regard to small discount stores, such as Dollar General or Dollar Tree. These stores have been proliferating aggressively across the country for several years, and many communities have laws in place to limit their development.
“We are in discussion for that,” said Sheline. “As a matter of fact, that may come up in the next Planning Commission meeting. We'll probably do a six-month moratorium like we did with gas stations and warehouses and come up with the new standards.”