CONWAY — A divided City Council late Tuesday night approved a zoning request necessary for Kroger to expand its store on Conway’s west side into a 123, 000-foot marketplace with an adjacent gasoline station that could service up to 14 vehicles at once.
The vote was 5-3 with Aldermen Mary Smith, Jim Rhodes and David Grimes voting no. Had there been atie, Mayor Tab Townsell said he was prepared to vote for the proposal, which drew an unusually large crowd, including many neighbors who opposed the plan.
“All of it together is just a little too much,” Grimessaid of the proposed development.
The vote came only after Kroger agreed to more than 25 conditions for the project, estimated to cost $13 million to $14 million and after almost two hours of sometimes emotional discussion. At one point, a woman who lives near the Kroger store looked at a team of Kroger representatives on hand and called them “the bullies.”
After two chemists andothers spoke of their fears that carcinogens from so many fuel pumps could endanger nearby families, Kroger Construction Manager Dennis Hobb agreed to install an enhanced vapor recovery system in addition to the one Arkansas already requires. He also agreed to move the pumps 50 feet further east, meaning the closest home will be 276 feet away.
The zoning agreement allows for the fuel pumps to operate only between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Kroger also agreed to build an 8-foot decorative wooden fence as a buffer between the stores and homes instead of the 6-foot one originally proposed but balked at building a brick one because of the cost.
Among other conditions, Kroger’s distribution trucks may enter and leave the site only between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., barring unavoidable delays such as hazardous weather. Parking-lot sweeping will take place only between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Brad Lacy, president and chief executive officer of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and Conway Development Corp., urged aldermen to approve the project, saying its economic outcome would be “tremendous.”
The city loses money daily to Pulaski County, where Conway residents go to shop at higher-end stores such as Fresh Market in Little Rock, Lacy said.
A Kroger representative said the store’s expansion would mean 59 more full-time jobs and 140 additional part time positions. The store will offer everything from food to household products, what amounts to a jewelry store and furniture.
Resident Tom Powers said neighbors’ concerns were that the store would be open 24 hours, would cause traffic congestion on an already busy Prince Street, send fumes into the nearby neighborhood and devalue homes.
“It will definitely create new jobs,” Powers said, “but it will also take some jobs away” from smaller businesses such as butcher shops, delicatessens, gift shops and even Walgreen’s.
“They may end up having to close.”
“If [Kroger] cared about the city, they’d build [the expanded store] in a more appropriate location,” Powers said. “There are more appropriate spots in Conway for this.”
One resident after another said the proposed building and service station didn’t “fit,” that they were too big for the site. But Kroger’s Cobb said, “I’m here to tell you it does fit.”
An original concern by preservationists about the project - that it would go through a historic home on property owned by Whisenhunt Investments - was almost a side issue Tuesday night.
Whisenhunt spokesman Jim Hathaway said the Little Rock company has agreed to donate the mixed-masonry Silas Owens house, built in 1946, and pay for its move, assuming someone can be found in time to take it.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 11/24/2010