Alexandria’s Walmart location is getting a fuel station.
The Alexandria Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the fuel station for the store located at 6711 East Alexandria Pike at its meeting on July 15. It will be located in the north corner of the Walmart parking lot. A small walk-in convenience store, eight fuel stations with 16 pumps and parking spaces will be located on the site.
According to Campbell County Planning and Zoning Director Cindy Minter, the fuel station will be affiliated with Walmart; however, Walmart typically brands its fuel centers under a different name, such as “Murphy.”
“I think where it’s at is the best spot, because it’s already a parking lot, just making use of a parking lot that’s not being used,” said Alexandria Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Nick Reitman.
This site does not include a zone map amendment. The existing land use map within the Alexandria 2030 Comprehensive Plan shows the area as “Commercial/Office.” The future land use map indicates a projected future use of the site as “General Commercial.”
Traffic will be permitted to enter and exit the site through the north entrance (the entrance not located at the light near McDonald’s). That is a change from the current entrance, as traffic can currently turn left in and out of it.
The following graphic shows the planned truck traffic flow from US 27 through the site.
Minter said the city also expects the Kentucky Department of Transportation to continue work on the city’s light timing and synchronizing all the lights along the US 27 corridor near the shopping complex.
“They are actively doing some work on that,” Minter said. “We do anticipate by the end of the year, kind of in the general area, there’s some turning movements that are being adjusted at the bottom of the AA Highway in the connector road that goes between US 27 and the AA just to the north of the shopping center. They’re planning on that being done before the end of the year.”
Only one person spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. The resident was complimentary of the right-in and right-out turn from the north Walmart entrance.
The total area of the Walmart parcel is 28.28 acres. The proposed location of the gas station is indicated as 1.24 acres on the site plan.
The existing Walmart store is 211,091 square feet, requiring 845 parking spaces. The internal warehouse space for the automotive station reduces this requirement to 809 parking spaces. The fuel station would require 10 spaces, as per the ordinance. Bringing the total need up to 819 spaces.
A total of 941 spaces are available at the locations. The construction of the fuel center would rebalance the number of spaces to 791. That is approximately 94% of the required parking for an independent grocery store and fuel center.
A development schedule is not yet indicated; however, Bradley Prichard, an engineer with Kimley-Horn working on the project, said that if all goes according to plan, construction could begin at the end of the year. According to Minter, the typical build time for a fuel station is 12 months.
