Vote on proposed gas station near Battle of Spring Hill deferred in part due to 'substandard' design

A new gas station and convenience store proposed to be constructed next to the Battle of Spring Hill site had its site plan approval process deferred Monday night by the Spring Hill Planning Commission in part due to concerns regarding its design.

At 3,200 square feet, the BP-branded gas station would sit on Kedron Road in front of The Shops of Kedron and butt up against the south border of the Battle of Spring Hill site.

A representative for the applicant of the project, Joe Epps, was at the Spring Hill Planning Commission meeting Monday night and sought from commissioners a recommendation for approval of the project's site plan. Commissioner Matt Fitterer took a few issues with the project as it was.

Specifically, Fitterer told Epps that the city's Unified Development Code calls for buildings to be orientated towards the road of the highest classification, which in this case would be Kedron Road. In its current form, the plans for the gas station shows the east side of the building - which faces Kedron Road - as not having an entrance and being constructed of only stone veneer and brick.

The entrance to the gas station is currently on the south side, with a back door and patio on the north side facing the historic battlefield.

While Fitterer said the commission has some flexibility in recommending projects, he said that ultimately the "substandard" design was not substantial enough to warrant a variance.

"To me, that back patio looks more like an employee entrance or somewhere where the employees are supposed to go out and smoke a cigarette than an inviting back area where we could have the building orientate towards Kedron [Road] all together," Fitterer said to Epps.

"Similarly, the east and west windows just being some brick overlay versus window panes... I don't find it to be high enough quality for what we're talking about."

Commissioner Elizabeth Payne mirrored some of Fitterer's concerns, and urged Epps to consider incorporating the proximity to the historic site more in the project's design.

"I think you have an opportunity because it's close to that battleground to make it a little bit more and attract people," Payne said.

"We have lots of tourists that go to that battleground; in the immediate vicinity there's not a whole lot to go get a snack or beverage, [so] I would love to see you take that area right there and try to make it more inclusive of the historic facet of that battleground and make it more of a place people want to stop."

Ultimately, Fitterer proposed deferring the request for site plan approval to give the architect behind the project more time to improve the building's design. That proposal passed unanimously.

With no approval yet from the Planning Commission, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen will vote on the project site plan during their next voting meeting on Monday, March 15.