Department of Neighborhood & Development Services 1565 First Street, RM 301, Sarasota, Florida Phone: (941)

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1 City of Sarasota Department of Neighborhood & Development Services 1565 First Street, RM 301, Sarasota, Florida Phone: (941) Application No. 15-CW-13 To: Meeting Attendees Date: July 1, 2015 From: Ryan Chapdelain, City of Sarasota Subject: Summary of Minutes--Community Workshop June 23, :30 pm--city Hall, Room 112 As required by the City of Sarasota, a community meeting was held to discuss a Minor Conditional Use for a proposed Wawa convenience store and fuel station. The 2.10+/- acre property, zoned Downtown Edge (DTE), is located between Fruitville Road and Fourth Street, and between East Avenue and Audubon Place. The proposed 5,650+/- sq. ft. convenience store, as well as the 16 fuel stations (8 pumps) for motor vehicles, are uses that require a minor conditional use within the DTE Zone District. An outdoor seating area for people to eat is also being proposed and will be located along the East Avenue frontage. There are four access points to the site and are proposed to be from East Avenue, Audubon Place, Fourth Street, and Halton Place/Third Street. There are 47+/- parking spaces proposed and buffers and screening would be provided per Zoning Code requirements. Wawa would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The applicant will also be applying for adjustments within the DTE Zone District, requiring approval by the Planning Board. These adjustments will be applied for following the Community Workshop and may include allowing access from primary streets, an increase to the maximum setback requirement, and reduction of the minimum habitable space depth along primary streets. The meeting began at 5:32 PM. Joel Freedman, applicant s agent, introduced the Wawa development team, gave an overview of the proposal, and presented a preliminary site plan. The minor conditional use, site plan, and adjustment application processes were all discussed. The Planning Board, through an advertised public hearing, will be the body to approve these applications. It was stated that East Avenue, Fourth Street, and Audobon Place are all listed as primary streets within the Downtown Code and have certain design requirements such as locating the building close to the street and limiting driveways accesses. Founded in 1803, Wawa is a privately held company located in Wawa, Pennsylvania where employees own 41% of the company through an employee stock ownership plan. The proposed store is expected to employ people with a premium placed on customer service. Below are the non-verbatim summary minutes of the discussion: Comments Concerned about proposed Wawa location and the safety of children due to traffic impacts on Fourth Street, which is currently a neighborhood street. Neighbors also park vehicles on this street. Can signals/access points be modified so egress is prohibited from site from East Avenue and from Fourth Street to address traffic? Will the store always be open 24 hours? Could it be closed from 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM? Concerned about undesirables, including vagrants from nearby railroad tracks, hanging around store at night. Have all the property owners agreed to sell and is it under contract? Why can t building be closer to railroad tracks, shifting it to the eastern end of the site? More housing closer to western end. Wawa is a great run store with great food and coffee. Traffic backs-up at Fruitville/East signal. Traffic study will not represent peak season. Responses The City is currently conducting a traffic study to evaluate impacts. We do not have any Wawa stores that are not open 24 hours/day. We work with police, employees, and customers to safely operate the store. Yes. That is the reason why we are here tonight. Traffic signalization will be studied as part of overall traffic study. A seasonal adjustment will be made to factor in peak season.

2 Comments Move Wawa closer to Fruitville Road so Fourth Street residents are not looking at the back of a building. Robert Wenzel, owner of office building immediately west of the subject area on East Avenue for the last 12 years, read a statement concerning traffic impacts to the area and to his building access. Also concerned about existing criminal activity in the area and that it would be exacerbated by proposed 24/7 convenience store/gas station. [NOTE: Full statement attached as part of minutes] I work for a company that is open 24/7 and it is very well-run. The nighttime lighting is outstanding. Heard that Wawa is a good neighbor and that dealing with criminal issues can be efficiently addressed by a 24/7 operation and the lighting from the gas station should help deter criminal element. Police station is a block and a half away. Like the idea of not having access on East Avenue and also like the idea of hiring 40 people. Don t like the way the property looks now and would be ecstatic to have the Wawa added to the Park East Neighborhood Association. Current structures on property do not look very nice and property not very well-kept. Would like to see Wawa there and it also opens up a number of job opportunities. Neighborhood on this end is not very attractive right now. Been here since 1947, father built a business in the area of the property and it was a very pretty area. It all changed in 1985 when Frutiville Road was widened and made a gateway into Sarasota and homes my father built had to be removed. Believe Wawa would be a great contribution to the area in terms of lighting and beautification and would bring exciting activity to the neighborhood. This would be one of the best things that could happen to this segment of Fruitiville Road. What kind of buffers are proposed along Fourth Street and how will lighting be designed so as not to impact adjacent residents? Also concerned about traffic impacts to East Avenue. In favor of Wawa being here, but concerned about traffic. East Avenue cannot afford any more back-up traffic. Would like to see proposed building/canopy and greenspace locations flipflopped. Are you all going to be able to put out signage close to Fruitville Road, near Halton Place? We cannot allow any more traffic on East Avenue. What would Wawa do for the community? With or without Wawa, East Avenue needs a right-turn only lane. That is the reason why there is back-up traffic. Fruitville Road, between Lime Avenue and East Avenue, should have a center turn-off lane and not a raised median as this would help eliminate a lot of congestion. Responses The way the Zoning Code is written for this parcel (zone district), buildings close to the street are preferred to buffers. In our case, we will be proposing a streetwall with some landscaping and all the parking areas would have to be buffered with minimum of 6 greenspace (trees/hedge). Comments about traffic/access on East Avenue and on Fourth Street are acknowledged. That would be our desire; we are reviewing the Zoning Code now for what is allowed. Listen to the community. Store manager would be highly involved in donating to local charities. If you have suggestions, we would love to listen to them. Page 2 of 6

3 Comments One thing Wawa will contribute to the community is to the tax base. Own three buildings in the area. My employees are extremely excited about this proposal. Think the additional traffic generated would help nearby small businesses. Wawa would be an asset to the community and a company willing to invest millions in this neighborhood would be a godsend. Responses Appreciate all the comments. We will evaluate results of traffic study and public comments and revisit the site plan. Once the applications are submitted, you will be notified and will also be notified of the Planning Board public hearing once it is scheduled. The meeting adjourned at 6:28 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Contacts regarding this summary: Ryan Chapdelain, City of Sarasota, Dept. of Neighborhood and Development Services (941) Page 3 of 6

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