This new petition aims to inform Georgia-based RaceTrac gas station/truck stop developers and Beavercreek City officials that we, the Citizens of Beavercreek, Ohio, adamantly oppose ANY development at the southwest corner of the US Route 35 and Factory Rd intersection because the State of Ohio has already developed an overpass plan for this intersection/parcel for traffic safety reasons. A for-profit developer should NOT be allowed to deprive city residents and local visitors of safe roadways and healthy waterways. 

This parcel of land must remain available for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to implement its longstanding plan to build an overpass at the Factory Road / US 35 intersection. The overpass will allow Beavercreek citizens to safely travel between the north and south sides of Beavercreek without maneuvering through the confusing and complicated sequences of multiple stop lights and U-turns that presently comprise US 35’s “Superstreets” intersections in Beavercreek.

The “Superstreets” configuration was always meant to be a temporary plan. Development on this parcel would physically occupy the land needed to construct the long-planned overpass. Any development on this site would eliminate the possibility of constructing Beavercreek’s much-needed overpass at this intersection, meaning the complicated Superstreets will be PERMANENT! Losing our overpass (i.e., our only mechanism to traverse this busy intersection safely) so a gas station can be built on this site when there are already TWO gas stations a half-mile away is a ludicrous and life-endangering proposition.

Quality of Life with The Superstreets
Residents living South of US35 feel cut off from the rest of Beavercreek. The stop lights and the U-turn add 8-12 additional minutes to one’s daily westbound commute, so many residents avoid the intersection altogether. Living a mile and a half from the Creekside bike trails, it would be nice to go for a bike ride, but this is challenging for residents in the Tara neighborhood. They need to load up their bikes on the rack or go out of their way to Fairfield Road because crossing US35’s Superstreet on a bike as a family is not doable. An overpass is needed to connect both sides of Beavercreek.

Beavercreek Soccer Association’s fields are located south of US 35, and they host tournaments with out-of-town teams unfamiliar with how the Superstreets work. These folks don’t realize how dangerous it is to turn right on a red light or how to maneuver the Superstreets, causing additional traffic. For these reasons, it is imperative that we do NOT allow any development on this parcel to interfere with ODOT’s already-designed plan to build an overpass to minimize vehicular accidents and improve safety at the US 35 / Factory Rd intersection. 

The Superstreets + The Proposed Gas Station + Future Housing Developments (South of US 35) + Future Beavercreek High School (South of US 35) = More Traffic & More Problems
Accidents at this already problematic Superstreets intersection would increase dramatically by adding gas station traffic, especially with, God forbid, tractor-trailers. The Superstreet wasn’t built for the additional traffic from approximately 300 new homes being built south of this parcel and new bus/vehicle traffic transporting approximately 2,300 students (plus staff, teachers, visiting sports teams, etc.) to and from the planned new high school just up the road from this problematic intersection. With most Beavercreek high school students living north of US 35, the newly licensed high school drivers heading to school deserve a safe route on the south side of US 35.

Hopefully, RaceTrac should understand that from a business perspective, this complicated Superstreets intersection is a tedious and unappealing location for car and truck drivers to access. The following 2.5-minute video shows how “inconvenient” it is for a truck to access the proposed truck stop and “convenience” store at this location:

https://youtu.be/lg5PvTe-Rro?si=BrBon1eIn0zJJ8If

Environmental Issues with This Parcel
The parcel that RaceTrac wants to develop is essential not only to our local ecosystem but also to the ecosystem of the Mississippi River Watershed and the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous professional environmentalists have voiced concerns about any development on this 100% floodplain parcel, especially a gas station. The contaminated run-off will drain this parcel into the nearby Beaver Creek (from which the City of Beavercreek gets its name). The Beaver Creek feeds into the Little Miami River, designated as the National Wild & Scenic and Ohio State Scenic Rivers. 

The Little Miami River continues downstream for miles before joining the Ohio River. The Ohio River eventually empties into the Mississippi River, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico. Due to upstream pollution (including from Beavercreek), the Gulf already has a 6,000-square-mile “dead zone” largely devoid of marine life. We don’t want RaceTrac’s underground gas storage tanks in Beavercreek (which could leak undetected), plus surface run-off from gas spills, to contribute to pollution along the waterways downstream and to increase the size of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Any developer must add seven feet of fill to build on this parcel. This fill will negatively impact the local aquifer and nearby wells. It is essential to allow this parcel to remain a floodplain because interactions among land, water, and biology occur within floodplains that support an array of functions that benefit local waterways and the overall environment. Covering this floodplain with fill and many square feet of impervious asphalt surfaces will also negatively impact the creek's delicate ecosystem and disrupt this floodplain parcel’s connection with the Little Miami River. We are also concerned that the elevated fill could add to the dangerous street flooding on Factory Road, which is already the site of a flooding-related death.

• Beavercreek Citizens DON’T WANT the complicated Superstreets to be permanent.
• Beavercreek Citizens SHOULDN’T BE DEPRIVED OF a safe overpass by an out-of-state developer who wants to build an extremely ill-suited gas station/truck stop on this parcel.
• Beavercreek Citizens DO WANT to protect and preserve our precious local water resources.

There absolutely should NOT be a truck stop OR gas station built at this location in Beavercreek.

We hope Beavercreek City and RaceTrac officials consider what is best for ALL involved. This development decision will permanently and detrimentally impact tens of thousands of lives, our natural resources, and wildlife.

WE WANT RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT IN BEAVERCREEK. PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION IF YOU SUPPORT A SAFE OVERPASS AT US 35 & FACTORY RD AND YOU DON'T WANT ANY DEVELOPMENT TO DEPRIVE RESIDENTS & VISITORS OF THEIR RIGHT TO SAFE INTERSECTIONS AND HEALTHY WATERWAYS IN BEAVERCREEK.

The next public hearing on the RaceTrac application is Monday, April 22, 2024, at 6 PM at Beavercreek City Hall, 1368 Research Park Dr., Beavercreek, OH 45432.

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