The United Dairy Farmers at the corner of Moock Road and Licking Pike in Wilder will soon be torn down — but it will be rebuilt.
The plans, discussed at a meeting this week, include altering the building’s orientation, increasing its size, changing the layout of the gas pumps, and doubling the number of pumps. The building and pumps will parallel Licking Pike under the new plans, whereas currently the building sits at about a 45-degree angle.
“This is one of their older stores, I think. I know it’s been here since probably the early 80s,” said Wilder City Administrator Terry Vance. “They’re getting more into the hot food business, like a lot of the other service stations are. They’re almost turned into restaurants.”
Vance said the UDF predates the city’s “form-based zoning,” which was enacted to help eliminate “cookie-cutter” type zoning where everything has to fit in a perfect spot. Vance said there were three things in the site plan the commission had to question: one, when the city changed the zoning to “town center,” it eliminated the dispensing of fuel at convenience stores in the zone. Two, the city said no flat roofs and required gabled roofs, and three, no more than 70% of the site can be an impervious area (any surface that prevents water from soaking into the ground.)
Senior Project Managerwith K4 Architecture, John Lucas, spoke at the planning and zoning meeting regarding UDF’s plans.
“The current fuel dispensers don’t work for people,” Lucas said. “There’s one in the center-they call it a slide-through dispenser-those don’t work for anybody. They never get used because people get blocked in.”
Lucas said UDF will also carry new products and food products inside the store. He said the proposed design is one the company has used over the last eight to 10 years around Cincinnati, Columbus, OH, and Dayton, OH.
The project does require a traffic study from the Kentucky Department of Transportation. The study is required for the Licking Pike entrance to the site, which Lucas said the transportation cabinet will most likely require to be right-in/right-out.
Demolition is expected to start in February, according to Lucas. He said the building demolition and haul-away should last roughly two weeks.
The Wilder Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the stage one and two site plans for the project, which included variances to allow continued use of the gas pumps, a higher than recommended impervious ratio, and continued use of the flat roof.
