Approval of King Soopers Marketplace
At its meeting on 20 May, City Council unanimously approved the development application for a King Soopers Marketplace seeking to occupy the former Lowe’s site along Dillon Road west of McCaslin Boulevard. I wish to explain aspects of my decision to approve this application despite my personal opposition to the new gasoline station that will accompany the Marketplace. I have set myself the goal of regularly explaining my votes prior to casting my votes. At this meeting I failed to explain my vote for a procedural reason. After a motion to approve the application had been offered and seconded, the mayor asked for comments on the motion. I intended to interject at this moment, but the mayor did not initially see my raised hand, so he asked the City clerk to initiate the roll-call vote. A few City Councilors had already voted when the mayor noticed my raised hand, but we could not interrupt the vote at that point. I was probably too timid in indicating my desire to comment. I offer my explanation here and now.
When I became a City Councilor, I took an oath to uphold Louisville’s municipal code (as well as state and federal codes). With regards to development applications, this oath dictates that I judge such applications on the basis of their compliance with the City’s municipal code. Just like any other code, the City’s municipal code is not black-and-white, affording some room for interpretation, so judging compliance is not necessarily a completely straightforward matter. Moreover, like many applications that come before City Council, this application included requests for several waivers from particular elements of the City’s municipal code. (A development application must demonstrate that the requested waivers will enhance the development over the municipal code’s requirements.) At the conclusion of last month’s public hearing, after having weighed the evidence presented, I determined that the development application for a King Soopers Marketplace complied with Louisville’s municipal code (including the requested waivers). If an application complies, then I must approve that application.
From my perspective this development application for a King Soopers Marketplace faced one particular hurdle: the City’s relatively new regulations concerning gasoline stations. Specifically, approval of the associated gasoline station hinged on the following section of the City’s municipal code.
Section 17.16.340.E. Any new gasoline or automobile service station shall be spaced from any existing or approved gasoline or automobile service station by a minimum of 1,000 feet as measured from the nearest point of each property boundary. This requirement may be waived if the proposed gasoline or automobile service station is approved through a new land use application for a single-use retail center of 80,000 or more square feet that includes a gasoline or automobile service station as an integral part of the retail center on the same or adjoining parcel.
I did not support the waiver clause in this code section when City Council adopted it, but as a City Councilor I must make judgments on the basis of our adopted codes. The gasoline station proposed to accompany the marketplace falls within 1,000 feet of the Murphy Express along McCaslin Boulevard, triggering the the waiver clause in the above code section. The code does not provide any definition of the word ‘integral’, leaving its meaning up to interpretation. I asked the applicant to explain how the proposed gasoline station is integral to the King Soopers Marketplace, and the applicant offered an explanation of how the gasoline station integrates into the retail center’s operations and how the gasoline state integrates into the retail center’s business model (particularly its points system). I then asked the applicant whether they would have brought forward a development application without an associated gasoline station, and the applicant indicated that they would not. The applicant did not offer a hermetic argument for the gasoline station being “an integral part of the retail center”, but the applicant offered an argument sufficient to meet my interpretation of the word ‘integral’.
If I had navigated the meeting procedures more assertively, then I would also have explained the benefits that I foresee this King Soopers Marketplace (minus its gasoline station) bringing to Louisville. First, the Marketplace represents redevelopment of an existing building and commercial site that has sat vacant for a few years; we should applaud such adaptive reuse. Second, the Marketplace’s presence may well help to activate adjacent commercial sites. Third, the Marketplace will serve as a neighborhood grocery and retail store for residents of the University of Colorado’s redevelopment of the Cinebarre site and the nearby housing likely envisioned in the City’s next Comprehensive Plan, enabling such residents to walk or bike for its services. Fourth, the Marketplace will very likely attract consumers from other parts of Louisville and surrounding municipalities. Finally, all of this activity will drive additional sales tax revenue for the City.
