Kirkwood Gives Preliminary OK to Mobil Station Expansion

The city council approved on first reading a resolution approving a special-use exception permit for the  at the corner of Manchester and North Geyer roads. The permit would allow the gas station to expand to adjacent lots.

 calls for the demolition of business space at 1136-1150 Manchester Road and an extension of the station to Simmons Avenue. The current convenience store would be demolished and a Mobil on the Run would be built on the property.

At the meeting, several residents urged the council to vote against the expansion, arguing the expansion would increase noise, traffic, and would decrease property values. 

“Kirkwood is a city of charm,” said Kirkwood Resident Diane Dooley, who lives nearby the gas station. “A Mobil on the Run belongs to an industrial area or by a highway. This, if it is allowed to go through, will completely change our neighborhood. I do not see it as bringing additional revenue; I see it as closing down local businesses.”

John King, attorney for the Mobil on the Run gas station, addressed concerns voiced by the city council during the meeting. The council added several amendments to the resolution in an attempt to address some of the residents’ concerns.

Among the amendments, the council made sure noise and light regulations were in place, as well as impeding fuel truck deliveries to come from Simmons Avenue.

After the amendments were approved, the council voted on the first reading of the ordinance. Council members Gerry Biedenstein, Gina Jaksetic and Bob Sears voted against the ordinance.

“I think this is a tough place for us to look at placing something like this,” Jaksetic said.

King told Kirkwood Patch that he did not think the expansion would increase traffic. Rather, King said, the expansion will attract the traffic that is already going through Manchester. King also said he did not think the expansion would change the nature of the neighborhood.

“There is already a gas station there,” he said.

Mayor Art McDonnell, who favored the expansion, told Patch he thought the amendments did a good job of addressing the residents’ main concerns.

“We took every one of their objections and we tried to fashion the ordinance so that it answered all of those,” McDonnell said. “I definitively do feel sorry for the few independent people there that are going to have to find a new location for their businesses.I hope they find an opportunity to move to some of those buildings that are right there near them.”

A second reading of the ordinance will take place at council’s next meeting on Jan. 5.

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