St. Charles aldermen vote to reduce scale on Main Street gas station plans
There may still be a new gas station at the southeast corner of West Main Street and South 11th Street in St. Charles, but the city's aldermen want it to look much different from what the developer's plans indicate.
The aldermen at Monday's planning and development committee meeting voted unanimously to approve the gas station requested by owner Mohammed Shahid Ali and Eric Carlson, representing ECA Architects and Planning, but in a scaled-down version at the location that's less than two-tenths of an acre in size and has been the site of several gas stations dating back to at least the 1930s, according to city records. The matter next goes to the full city council for a vote.
The owner must decide if he still wants to pursue a smaller facility with a one-story convenience store instead of the two stories with an upstairs apartment he requested. The approved plan also calls for two fuel pumps instead of three and includes no exception from where the trash container can be located.
Alderman Bryan Wirball made the motion with the changes and was seconded by fellow Ward 4 Alderman David Pietryla. All the aldermen voted in favor of reducing the scale of the plans that included several exceptions from city ordinances.
The aldermen had a problem with the upstairs apartment, which Ali said would be used by his son as the manager of the facility. They also questioned the size of the canopy above the gas pumps, and the distance between the surrounding streets and the gas pumps and trash container.
"I counted 13 variances for this property - that's a lot of variances for any kind of developer to ask for," said Ward 1 Alderman Ron Silkaitis. "I can't support all those variances."
The aldermen also heard a concept plan presentation from Frontier Development for a mixed-use development at the southeast corner of Riverside Avenue and Illinois Avenue. Like at the plan commission meeting earlier this month, several residents spoke in opposition of the five-story project with 48 apartment units and ground-floor retail.