A contentious proposal to build a new Wawa convenience store and gas station at the busy US 42 and Hopeful Church Road cleared its final hurdle in its review by the City of Florence.
The Florence City Council voted to move the project forward at a special meeting on Oct. 21 by approving a Change of Concept Development Plan for the site.
The special meeting was called to vote ahead of a Nov. 4 statutory deadline for the city to act. The 4-2 vote was a repeat of last week’s first reading, with council members Patricia Wingo, Gary Winn, Diane Whalen and David Schneider voting in favor and council members Lesley Chambers and Angie Cable voting against the plan.
Florence leaders have debated the proposed Wawa for several months. The council’s Planning and Zoning Committee met twice, spending more than 3 hours digging into the proposal.
City staff spent even more time analyzing data, designs, and consultant reports. In September, the committee attached nine conditions to its approval, including lighting standards, fencing, landscaping, signage and the building’s design.
The conditions the Florence council placed on the proposal reflect the city’s limited capacity to influence a plan approved decades ago.
“It comes out of the Planning Commission with a deadline on it,” Whalen told LINK nky before the vote. “If the governing body, like the city or the county, doesn’t take official action, then it reverts to the Planning Commission’s recommendation.”
That recommendation, Whalen said, was a lot more lenient on Wawa.
“The state statute dictates everything concerning planning and zoning,” Whalen said. “We have a set of laws that we’re supposed to follow.”
The Florence Council and Florence Planning Commission are two of several review authorities with jurisdiction over the proposed development. The others are Boone County and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Florence has a say in the building’s design and site plan.
There wasn’t much that the City of Florence could do to stop the project or to demand significant changes. A plan for a gas station and convenience store at the site was first approved in 1989, following the property’s rezoning from residential to commercial in 1985.
At its Oct. 14 meeting, several council members confessed they struggled with the decision to approve a project that would displace locally owned businesses and that might, based on traffic studies, increase traffic at the intersection.
“Personal feelings aside, this is the state law that we’re required to follow, a process we’re required to follow, and the discussions that we’ve had and the vote that we need to take based on the evidence presented to us,” Council member Diane Whalen said Oct. 14.
After the Oct. 14 vote on the ordinance adopting the change of concept for the first reading, Lita’s Tacos owner Arrington Davis made a passionate plea for the council to protect his business and prevent its displacement.
He’s still looking for a place to relocate. A former firehouse that the city showed him would cost too much, and he’s looking at other sites.
Davis declined to speak with LINK nky after being interviewed following his statement during the Oct. 14 council meeting. He said that after the Oct. 14 meeting, the property owners reached out to him and that he will continue to work with the city to try to find another location for his business.
Snappy Tomato pizza restaurant is located next to Lita’s Tacos. Owner Kevin Flaherty didn’t wait until the Florence City Council concluded its review. He told LINK nky that he already has a new location near Union and will be in the space by the end of the year.
Flaherty has worked at the Snappy Tomato on US 42 in Florence since 2010. He started out as a driver and worked his way up to general manager before buying the franchise in 2019.
He doesn’t have much to say about the proposed Wawa. “It is what it is,” Flaherty told LINK nky earlier this week. “If they’re not going to sell it to Wawa, they probably sell it to somebody else or another project down the road.”
Snappy Tomato’s new location will be across from the new Publix near Union. It was one of several sites Flaherty looked at, including one along Mall Road. “Rent is a lot more down that way,” Flaherty says. “So that’s going to be a struggle, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
The new Wawa could open in 2027, the company’s representative told the Florence council in September.