As Kroger planned to develop their site in front of our community of Wellesley in Henrico County, VA a few years back, Kroger and their lawyers promised (and they used the word "promise") residents of Wellesley Neighborhood (788+ homes) that they would never build a gas station/convenience store on that site because of the traffic and overall negative impact that a gas station would have on this particular residential neighborhood.

Today (2/16/2012) Kroger and their attorneys filed with the County of Henrico to amend their “use” and intent to build a gas station/mini convenience store. This gas station would not only on be built on this site but in a place closest to the residents homes.

Kroger anticipating negative feedback before officially announcing the changed use filing began a campaign within their store to get customers to sign their petition to have the gas station built. The people that are getting the petitions signed are paid PR professionals that are blanketing the entrance of the store as customers come in. They are almost forcing people to sign their petition yet not even asking them where they live or traveling from. These people signing are not getting the full story and most don’t even live in the county or area that this is affecting. The petition professionals are out their for a reason because Kroger knows that building the gas station behind families homes is not right...and they lied about it to get the store built first.

There are children that play in their backyards abutting the proposed station. Fumes, traffic, noise and property values of those homes are all issues that are of major concern with the neighborhoods residents. In addition, there are six gas stations w/in a mile of their proposed station.