QuikTrip Wants to Come to Scio Township

A plan, which is still in its early stages, has been presented to Scio Township that, if ultimately approved, would bring a new location for gas and food to the northwest corner of I-94 and Baker Road.

The plan’s first step, which is a rezoning request, has gone before the Scio Township Planning Commission a couple of times since the fall with the latest on January 12, where the planning commission did vote to recommend to the township board with conditions the approval of the plan’s conditional rezoning to C-3.

This step in the planning process is purely the rezoning phase. The plan, if given rezoning approval by the township board, would then need to go back to the planning commission and township board for a possible conditional use approval for several of the uses as well as a site plan approval.

At this point, the company is asking for a Conditional Rezoning of approximately 14.911 acres from R-1 (Single-Family Residential) to C-3 (Highway Commercial). The developer doesn’t own the location in question currently, but is in contract with it.

The company making this request and putting forth the plan is QuikTrip.

The company’s webpage describes itself this way: “QuikTrip Corporation is a privately held company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Founded in 1958, QuikTrip has grown to a more than $11 billion company with more than 1,000 stores in 17 states. QuikTrip gives back to the communities it serves, donating five percent of net profits to charitable organizations in those communities.”

QuikTrip wants to construct a location in Scio to be an all-in-one filling station, convenience store, restaurant/fast food carryout, and truck stop with diesel fueling available. If ultimately approved, the permitted uses would be a filling station and convenience store with conditional uses being a truck stop facility and fast food/carry out restaurant.

According to the township planner, the applicant proposes to conditionally rezone five separate parcels of approximately 15 acres found at the northwest corner of I-94 and Baker Road from R-1 Single Family-Residential to C-3 Highway Commercial. A concept site plan has been provided that indicates a gasoline fueling station, convenience store, and truck stop facility for fueling.

The plan sounds like it would not have truck stop amenities, such as overnight parking, showers or laundry. However, there would be food options, such as sandwiches and pizza.

In talking about the overall plan, the QuikTrip spokesperson at the Jan. 12 meeting told the planning commission they are very aware of environmental and conservation details and these will go into their plans. He said they take great pride in their mitigation fuel management with such planning details as having double walled tanks to prevent leaks and a robust montoring system.

The plan would see some trees taken down, but there would be tree replacement where they can and they would keep nearly four acres for tree preservation. The building would be 8,296 square foot with fueling pumps and parking spaces.

The rezoning request will now go before the township board.

Image 1: A rendering of the proposed location. Image courtesy of QuikTrip

Image 2: A map of the location in question. Image courtesy of Scio Township