PARKVILLE, Mo. — The long-awaited QuikTrip in Parkville finally has a final plan. On Tuesday, Dec. 1, the Parkville Board of Aldermen gave the final approval to the during its regular meeting. In a unanimous vote, minus absent aldermen Marc Sportsman and Kari Lamer, who resigned from the board due to a residency change, the board approved the final development plan for the convenience store at the intersection of Highways 45 and 9.
The QuikTrip store has been in the works for years with the development truly kicking into gear in April when the Parkville Planning and Zoning Commission approved a preliminary plan. The project has moved forward, albeit more slowly than originally anticipated due to delays in utility relocations and other preliminary site work and planning work.
The planning and zoning Commission unanimously approved the final development plan at a special meeting held Monday, Nov. 30.
The preliminary plan was approved with 18 conditions, mostly addressing access, drainage and traffic concerns, and at the Nov. 30 meeting, the commission added or revised some conditions, including further stipulating the need for coordination between the city and the developer in mitigation of storm water runoff. Site runoff will be funneled down Highway 9 into the detention pond behind the Parkville Athletic Center and the Platte County Community Center South, which may require work to handle the increase in water volume.
Additionally, the city will require the installation of pedestrian stop signs on the bike trail along Highway 45 at the store’s access points.
The Generation 3 store will look similar to the one recently completed in Riverside, Mo. with fewer fuel islands and different signage. The approved preliminary plans included a 5,858 square foot retail space, 18 gas pumps at nine islands under a canopy, two monument signs, 74 parking spaces, circulation around the building and three points of access — one from Highway 9 and two from Highway 45.
One of the access points will be from a frontage road at Julian Drive, and local residents have voiced concerns about traffic in the area and the need for a traffic signal.
Parkville community development director Sean Ackerson said city staff has again reviewed the intersection and consulted with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), which holds the ultimate authority on traffic signal placement. He said according to the staff analysis, most accidents in the area over the last several years have been due to deer and not traffic, and MoDOT does not favor installation of a light.
Aldermen voiced concerns about light pollution from the store on nearby residences, but Ackerson said the developer has addressed this.
The site, which currently sits several feet above Highway 45, will be graded substantially, leaving the store’s final elevation below the highway’s elevation. Two layers of evergreen trees on a berm behind and to the side of the store will screen it from the residences.
Other stipulations set by the planning and zoning commission earlier this year included widening street entrances, lengthening turn lanes and redesigning the frontage road. The access and internal drives must accommodate South Platte Fire Protection District ladder and pumper trucks, a requirement Ackerson said the plan has now met.
In addition to those stipulations identified by MoDOT and the city’s planning staff, Ackerson noted the two monument sign heights will be substantially reduced, particularly the sign on Highway 9, and the two signs must be landscaped at the base to fit in with area signage requirements. Two sign medallions on the north side of the building will also be omitted from the final plan.
No updated time line for the start of construction was presented, but previously city staff had indicated that the store will open next summer.
Also at the meeting, the board approved the first reading of the city’s 2016 budget.
Earlier in the day prior to the meeting, Parkville resident Gordon Cook emailed board members, city staff, the mayor and media with a list of concerns about the 2016 proposed budget, adding an attached spreadsheet outlining those concerns. Parkville city administrator Lauren Palmer responded to the email, but, as Cook noted in his original email, due to time constraints of his issuance of concerns on the day the board was set to approve the first reading, her response was limited.
Cook did not attend the meeting, and aldermen did not mention the email specifically but observed that as the second and final adoption of the budget will not be held until the Dec. 15 meeting, residents will have more time to study the budget and bring any questions and concerns to the staff.
The main concerns were with ease of reading the document to the public with major points too hard to understand. City staff advised Cook of the four public budget workshop meetings held leading up to the Tuesday, Dec. 1 first reading in which many of his concerns were addressed.
Cook said going to all of those meetings should not be required to understand major portions of the document that affect taxpayer money.