The Ann Arbor City Council gave approval Tuesday night to a site plan allowing construction of a new Speedway gas station at 1300 N. Maple Road.
The vote was 9-0 with Marcia Higgins and Carsten Hohnke absent.
The plans call for demolition of a long-vacant service station building at the corner of Miller and Maple and construction of a 3,968-square-foot, single-story gas station and convenience store.
It's expected to include five gasoline pumps capable of servicing 10 vehicles. The pumps are to be covered by a 28-foot-by-121-foot canopy.
Courtesy of City of Ann Arbor
That will leave two curb cuts — one on Maple and one on Miller. A total of 14 vehicle parking spaces will be provided in addition to 12 bicycle parking spaces.
City officials noted there is an existing five-foot-wide pedestrian path that runs along the eastern and northern sides of the site. The path is located within a public easement zoned as public land.
Since the easement area is not owned by the city, city staff initiated a rezoning to commercial use to be consistent with the remainder of the site.
The rezoning action, initially approved Tuesday night, is being considered separately from the site plan and must come back for a second reading and final approval at the council's next meeting.
"The easement dedication was a condition of a previous site plan proposal for a gas station on this site in 1972," City Planner Matt Kowalski wrote in a memo to council.
Kowalski said the old site plan was approved, the path was installed, and the easement area was rezoned to public land at that time. He said the 1972 project never went forward, but the easement and zoning remain in place on the privately owned parcel.
The council also gave initial approval Tuesday night to a rezoning request to allow construction of a three-story townhouse building containing five dwelling units at 922-926 Catherine St. The rezoning must come back for a second reading and final approval.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.