Council Roundup: Council Approves East Lansing’s First Sheetz Before Putting Moratorium on New Gas Stations
Sheetz, a 24-hour gas station, convenience store and restaurant, received approval from the East Lansing City Council to open its first location in the city.
The Pennsylvania-based chain is popular in other states, but just recently just started adding locations in Michigan. Sheetz plans to add up to a dozen locations in the Lansing area, a representative for the company previously told East Lansing Info.
The location approved by City Council Tuesday night will be located on the corner of Abbot Road and Saginaw Street, a site that previously hosted a Rite Aid. With council granting a special use permit to the company at a meeting on Tuesday, Sheetz hopes to open the location in 2027.
Sheetz has gained a large following due to its expansive customizable food menu and offering more grocery options than a typical convenience store that accompanies a gas station.
“If you need bacon at three in the morning, I can hook you up,” Sheetz representative Alex Siwicki said at a previous City Council meeting.
Sheetz will hire between 30 and 35 full-time employees at its East Lansing location, according to the agenda report.
Council voted 4-1 in favor of approving a special use permit that allows Sheetz to open, with council members praising the business’ work with city staff during the approval process and community support for the project.
Mayor Erik Altmann was the lone vote against approving Sheetz. He called Sheetz a “model applicant” for its work during the approval process but said he worries the project will bring new traffic risks.
Council puts a moratorium on new gas stations.
Right after approving the new Sheetz, council voted unanimously to put an eight month moratorium on auto service centers, which include gas stations. The moratorium will not impact any recently approved projects and there are no pending land use applications for new gas stations, the agenda report says.
Three gas stations have been approved since August 2024: Sheetz, a Marathon station and a Meijer station. There are six other gas stations in the city, the agenda report says.
Principal Planner Landon Bartley explained there are concerns that with nine gas stations in East Lansing, the land use for gas stations is saturated. Putting an eight month moratorium on new gas stations would give staff time to see if city ordinances should be amended around auto service centers.
The moratorium would also give the city time to determine areas that the city does not need gas stations or there is a need, Bartley said.
Council unanimously approved the moratorium.
Stop signs won’t be added in the Glencairn neighborhood after all.
At the Jan. 20 City Council meeting, council declined to approve an advisory opinion from the city’s Transportation Commission and staff to not install stop signs at the intersection of Rosewood Avenue and Southlawn Avenue in the Glencairn neighborhood. Instead, council asked staff to bring an order to install the stop signs back for a vote, appearing to be positioned to approve the stop signs.
However, council reversed course again at Tuesday’s meeting, opting against installing the stop signs after receiving more community feedback. Instead, the city will consider other traffic calming options. The Glencairn neighborhood association recommended a traffic island be installed at the intersection.
The decision comes as the city is hearing broader concerns about traffic safety in neighborhoods. At the Jan. 20 meeting, Department of Public Works Director Ron Lacasse said the city is working on a plan to address these concerns.
“We are in the process of doing a full revamp of the neighborhood action plan to address the traffic,” Lacasse said at the Jan. 20 meeting. “We’ve got a pretty clear direction from residents that they’re not happy with the current plan, and it doesn’t appear to ever lead to solutions.”