Sheetz gains approval for gas and drive-thru operations, size variances tabled

by Laura Bednar

April 21 board of zoning appeals meeting

Stephen Funk, attorney with Roetzel & Andress, presented the Bath Board of Zoning Appeals with four requests related to the proposed construction of a Sheetz gas station at the Ghent Road and I-77 interchange.

The area is in the B-1 Gateway Business District, which allows for gas stations and drive-thru food pickup with conditional use permits. The board approved both permits unanimously. Stephen Funk explained the drive-thru would not be a typical fast food lane with a speaker, but rather a pickup window for mobile food orders made through an app ahead of time.

The drive-thru lane would be along the rear of the convenience store, which pairs with the gas pumps as part of the entire vision for the property. Robert Ondak, lawyer representing Visconsi Land Co., the company under contract to purchase the land, said the property where the former Dimitroff’s furniture store was is 16.11 acres. 

Sheetz would take up 3.22 acres and 4.41 acres would be undeveloped since it is in the I-77 right-of-way. The remaining 8.41 acres could be developed in the future, as four residential homes or a commercial entity, according to Ondak, but there are no concrete plans at this time. 

The public and some board members took issue with the variances Sheetz requested. Those variances would allow the driveway to exceed the zoning code’s size maximum of 30 feet with a 40-foot drive and the building to exceed the maximum footprint of 3,000 square feet with a building of 6,139 square feet.

Stephen Funk explained that extending the driveway on Ghent Road would ensure it lines up with the off-ramp for I-77 across the street. It would have one lane for entry and two exit lanes. Board member Tom Flynn said he was not comfortable approving the driveway change until Visconsi had final comments on traffic studies currently under review by the county engineer and Ohio Department of Transportation.

As part of the Sheetz development, Ghent Road would have a 200-foot right turn lane and a 124-foot left turn lane for cars to enter the gas station from either direction. ODOT is in the process of creating a dedicated left turn lane onto I-77 as a separate project, according to Bath Planning Director/Zoning Inspector Bill Funk (no relation to Stephen Funk).

Ellen Selle, representative from Sheetz, said the gas station is not a “destination” and is “pass by traffic.” Stephen Funk said, “It won’t bring traffic into Bath,” adding that people will get off the highway to fuel and resume their trip on the highway, or people will fuel before getting on the highway initially. He said the Bath zoning code states that fueling stations “shall be located on major thoroughfares or at intersections.”

Resident Noreen Roman argued that the interchange is smaller compared to the Montrose area and between the ODOT and Sheetz projects, Ghent Road will only have one straight lane headed north, creating a bottleneck. She also said “Sheetz is a destination,” because it is open 24 hours, drawing kids with nowhere else to go.

The station would not be a truck stop, and Sheetz fuel delivery trucks would be the only large-scale trucks on site. Both the Shell gas station at Springside and Route 18 and the Speedway at Route 18 and N. Cleveland-Massillon Road operate 24 hours, according to Bill Funk.

When talking of the size of the convenient store, Stephen Funk said it would be one-third the size of the existing Dimitroff building and comparatively smaller than commercial properties to the west of the site. He added the size of the building would not be disruptive to the area.

Board member Tim Franklin asked if a smaller-sized building could be designed to match the township’s character. Selle said the fueling station/convenience store model is part of Sheetz brand and the usable floor space in the convenient store is 3,500 square feet, with the remaining space used for offices, food prep and back of house areas.

Franklin said the project should be sensitive to its location in Bath in an historic corridor. “It also has to align with us,” he said.

Resident Maria Bardossy said the former Dimitroff building matched the character of Bath and Sheetz can’t be compared to the surrounding buildings in the same way. Resident Mike Ackermann said the B-1 Gateway District is intended for small-scale businesses.

“Variances are intended to address unique hardships … not to accommodate a particular business model,” said resident Mary Lou Thewes. She said both the gas station and convenient store will draw traffic.The board of zoning appeals tabled the variances for the driveway and building size until its next meeting, at which time members expect to hear more about the traffic studies.