Some residents near the Cambridge Square shopping center at the intersection of Ashford Dunwoody and Johnson Ferry roads are opposing Kroger’s plans to build a gas station in its parking lot.
The grocery store has applied for a special land use permit to install a 14-pump station. The application is scheduled to go before the city Planning Commission on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
“There’s no indication that [nearby] Valero and Texaco [stations] don’t meet the needs of the neighborhood,” said Linley Jones, community affairs chair of the Cambridge Park subdivision.
Jones says the area is zoned for “neighborhood shopping,” meaning that businesses are supposed to address the needs of residents living in close proximity.
“This mega station would dwarf the existing gas stations, and is designed to attract business from outside the immediate neighborhood area,” she said.
When asked how the company is responding to neighborhood concerns, Glynn Jenkins, public relations director for Kroger’s Atlanta division, wrote in an email, “Kroger actively seeks opportunities to provide shoppers with convenient locations and amenities to create a great shopping experience.
“Kroger fuel centers are a great way to deliver additional value to our customers, and we would like to provide this added value to the residents in this trade area.”
In recent days, signs have popped up along Johnson Ferry Road protesting the project. Jones said she gathered more than 100 signatures on a letter against the gas station in about 48 hours.
“Cambridge Park Civic Association and Hampton Hall Civic Association strongly believe that the proposed property use as a 14-pump mega station is contrary to our neighborhood’s character as a pedestrian, family-friendly, walkable community and, more specifically, contrary to the designation of our neighborhood as “neighborhood shopping,” the group’s website, nokrogergasstation.com says.
Jones said a 14-pump station would be more appropriate along a multilane highway such as nearby Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, and that building the station would make it difficult for her neighbors to walk to Blackburn Park.
