Published: May 13, 2008 12:52 pm            

Second gas station to open on Broadway

EDMOND — Edmond drivers traveling on Broadway will have more than one gas station to choose from in the coming months. The Edmond City Council gave 5-2 approval Monday night of the site plan for the proposed OnCue Express Convenience Store/Service Station to be on the east side of Broadway between Eighth and Ninth streets.

OnCue Express will encompass 5,129 square feet with 10 gasoline pumps on five aisles under a canopy in front of the building, City Planner Bob Schiermeyer said. A Goldie’s restaurant and a vacant former Grandy’s will be sold and razed to make way for development. Goldie’s plans to relocate.

OnCue will be the first major new development on South Broadway to beckon passersby where downtown’s border begins at Ninth Street. The Central Edmond Urban Development Board approved the OnCue plan in March.

But the approval of OnCue did not come easy after much discussion was voiced over the large footprint of the building and its border sensitivity to the single family district just east of the property. Mayor Dan O’Neil and Councilman Wayne Page voted against the plan.

Plans are to upgrade the alley behind the proposed OnCue to the city’s concrete standards. A fence on the east side of the alley will further separate the building from neighboring properties. Page and Edmond Neighborhood Alliance President Ed Moore were concerned the facility would back up to the alley.

“I think there should be a sensitive border there,” said Page, who agreed an additional gas station is needed on Broadway. “We’re taking a footprint that has had some kind of space and now we’re taking a building that plans say will be 3 feet off the alley.” And Page objected to the size of the OnCue building introducing drivers to the gateway of downtown.

Councilman Charles Lamb said the plan is in compliance with downtown development guidelines for sensitive borders.

“To me, the gateway for downtown, the urban setting downtown, is the clock and the ornamental lights you see when you approach downtown. You get a distinct flavor that you’re approaching an older, more effective architectural area,” Lamb said. “We do have a goal to seek redevelopment. If you’re going to seek redevelopment that’s economically viable, you’re going to see an assembly of properties together to make that happen.”

O’Neil criticized the OnCue company for not being flexible enough to offer a smaller version of the building. “You cannot help by being struck by the size of this project. It takes up a whole city block,” O’Neil said. “That bothers me. This is supposed to be the gateway.”

Councilwoman Elizabeth Waner said an argument can be made that the back of the building is a buffer. She said sensitive borders should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

“I don’t think one size fits all, especially when you’re trying to retrofit,” she said.

Waner said she would vote in favor of OnCue because it is an improvement of the area. And the landscaping will enhance the visual impact, she said.

The landscaping that was originally submitted met the requirements of 11 percent of the lot. Monday, OnCue added an additional $80,000 worth of landscaping to that plan, said attorney Randel Shadid, representing OnCue.

“… We’d be the first station in the world with public art and we will be if this (is) approved as the first one in Oklahoma,” Shadid said of sculptures of two 4-foot ravens.

The 15.5-foot-tall building is to be two-toned brick with a canopy 21 feet tall at the highest point, Shadid said.

Lighting complies with sensitive border standards. One driveway will access the earth-tone “mocha” site on Broadway. Walk-in restrooms without doors will resemble those of airports with automated amenities inside.

“One of the nice things about our station is that you have room to get cars in and out at the pump stations without running in to one another,” Shadid said.

Edmond developer Shawn Brown said he is not part of the OnCue development but supported its proposal.

“I turned on to Broadway the other day and was sitting there going, ‘Oh, I’m on empty.’ It was a mile before I got (gas), and when I got there I said, ‘I’m paying 10-cents too much for this gas today,” Brown said.



jcoburn@edmondsun.com |

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