Crown Point BZA approves plans for Speedway station

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Updated: February 25, 2012 8:17AM

CROWN POINT — Speedway LLC cleared the final city hurdle Monday for a convenience store and gas station at the southwest corner of 109th Avenue and Broadway, paving the way for plans to move forward.

Speedway officials said they would like to break ground in May and be open by late summer or early fall.

On Monday the Board of Zoning Appeals, in a 5-0 vote, approved a set-back variance for the gas station for the side of the business that would face the new Superior Drive that is part of the overall commercial development of that corner.

The Plan Commission approved the Williamsburg-style design of the building Jan. 9 and the Tree Board approved the landscape plan Jan. 18.

Troy Triphahn, from W-T Engineering Inc. of Hoffman Estates, Ill., said Speedway was looking for a front-yard variance facing Superior Drive because the business essentially has three front yards since three sides will face roadways.

The variance allows the frontage on Superior to run between 17.5 feet to 27 feet instead of the required 35. If that side of the building was a true side yard, the frontage requirement would only be 10 feet, he said. Frontage on Broadway and 109th Avenue will meet or exceed the 35-foot requirement.

“We are providing a net gain of over 4,000 feet more in landscaping than we need,” he said.

Plans call for replacing the 2,671 square feet lost from the Superior Drive frontage with 6,838 additional square feet on the Broadway and 109th Avenue sides. Forty-four percent of the gas station site will be landscaping.

Plans call for moving some of the trees that would have been in a 35-foot setback to the more visible Broadway front of the building.

“We definitely want to put the landscaping where people will see it most,” Triphahn said.

Tony Jaynes, construction specialist for Speedway, said the company will now go through the permitting process before construction can begin. He said the company must also coordinate with the developer of the property, who is responsible for infrastructure such as Superior Road.