Local government planners recommend the planning board reject an unusually elaborate, “multi-architectural” plan for a convenience store with gas on Sam Cooper Boulevard in Binghampton.

But the thumbs-down recommendation has nothing to do with the ornamentation and a clock tower that would rise over the gas canopy, and almost everything to do with selling gas on the peninsula-like lot formed by Sam Cooper Boulevard on the south, Broad on the north and Tillman on the east.

Proposed Binghampton business includes ‘multi-architectural’ features

The Department of Planning & Development (DPD) staff report suggests the grittiness of fuel sales is inappropriate for this Binghampton site that is surrounded by a new ballet school to the south, a nonprofit shopping center to the southeast, houses to the west, and an existing gas station and craft brewery to the north.

Also, the city’s signature, protected bike lane, The Hampline, borders the proposed gas station along Broad and Tillman. Such an auto-centric business as a gas station and its entrances could endanger cyclists using The Hampline, the report states.

Memphis is already saturated with gas stations, the report indicates. The city’s 369 gas stations mean there are six for every 10,000 residents, according to a chart prepared by the DPD staff.

The 6/10,000 ratio compares to 4/10,000 in Nashville, 4/10,000 in Arlington, 3/10,000 in Collierville, Bartlett and Lakeland, 2/10,000 in Germantown and 4/10,000 across the U.S. Knoxville also has six gas stations per 10,000 residents, and Millington has the most with eight per 10,000.

The property is split-zoned, partially for residential use and partially for commercial mixed-use 1 (CMU-1). The CMU-1 zoning is a relatively low-intensity, more neighborhood-oriented commercial zoning and does not, by right, allow auto-related businesses such as gas stations.

In February, the City Council and County Commission approved zoning changes that restricted gas sales in CMU 1 areas. And the City Council imposed a citywide moratorium on more gas pumps to allow the council time to study the issue, the report states.

The Land Use Control Board is to consider Spirit Enterprise’s application for a special use permit for a planned development in its meeting starting at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 10.

Renderings and site plans for developing the vacant 1.6 acres feature a number of elements often considered desirable. The pictures show brick facades, outdoor covered seating, relatively lush landscaping and a “community plaza.” The application also includes plans for a bike station with free air and use of repair equipment.

But the DPD planners cited design issues in addition to concerns about more fuel pumps.

The 8,365-square-foot shopping center building of up to six retail bays would be sited near Tillman on the east end of the lot. But the building would face west. The development essentially turns its back to the substantial traffic artery, lining Tillman with a blank wall, the report states.