A group of neighbors in north Kirkwood, Missouri, is organizing to fight the Western Oil Petro-Mart proposed for the former site of Pi Pizzeria, the neighboring abandoned gas station, and several residentially zoned properties along Earl Avenue. The proposal is currently awaiting review by the Planning & Zoning Commission. Residents oppose this project for many reasons, including:

• The proposal involves rezoning multiple lots from R-4 (single-family residential) to B-3 (highway business). Rezoning of this magnitude is worth opposing regardless of what goes in.
• Why? As one neighbor pointed out, “Suppose Western Oil fails due to low gas prices and the difficulty of eastbound traffic getting in and out of the new station.” If these lots are rezoned to B-3, almost any business could go in on lots where homes currently stand.
• It will undo decades of Kirkwood zoning policy by encroaching into residential areas along Manchester Road, opening the door for additional projects.
• On the north side of Manchester, it would be the only commercial development between Lou Fusz and the city limit more than 150 feet deep. This development will be about twice again as deep as anything else. This represents a very bad shift in public policy.
• It’s a gas station. It will be big, bright, noisy, and open 24/7 with 60 parking spots. It will be the size of two football fields. Imagine the turf at KHS, twice. That’s enormous for a gas station.
• Light pollution: The development’s spill light, glare zone, direct upward light, and upward reflected light will cause light trespass on residential properties.
• Adding a business along Manchester that emphasizes short visits, and therefore frequent entrances and exits, will make that stretch even more challenging for drivers.
• A gas station will hurt residential property values.
• A 24-hour gas station is a threat to the neighborhood’s safety.
• This will have an impact on stormwater drainage in an area that experienced flash-flood last Labor Day weekend AND that drains into Twomile Creek, which drains into Deer Creek. Twomile Creek is a major contributing stream, meaning this project will have an impact on our area’s watershed.
• This will not bring any new sales tax revenue to the city; it will only disperse it. And another gas station may kill the minority-owned BP station just east of the site.