East Lansing Planning Commission Unanimously Recommends Sheetz Approval

The East Lansing Planning Commission unanimously recommended a Special Use Permit be granted to gas station and restaurant Sheetz, after developers addressed concerns about traffic and stormwater management.

The Pennsylvania-based chain is proposing a gas station with eight pumps and a restaurant featuring a drive thru, 30 seats inside and 16 outdoors. The restaurant’s menu will include appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, salads, milkshakes and coffee.

In response to a question asked at last night’s Planning Commission meeting, Sheetz representative Alex Siwicki said Sheetz considers itself more of a restaurant than a gas station.

“At the heart, we’re a restaurant, that was for the first 25 years or so of our business,” he said.

The Sheetz is proposed for the corner of Abbot Road and Saginaw Street, a space previously occupied by Rite Aid. The location was a concern during a previous Planning Commission discussion because the intersection is already busy, and a Marathon gas station is across the street.

An overview of where a new Sheetz is proposed to be built. (From Oct. 8 Planning Commission agenda packet)

At last night’s meeting, commissioners were mostly satisfied with the results of a traffic study Sheetz completed in November that projects there will be minimal changes to traffic.

Sheetz also addressed stormwater concerns raised at a public hearing. Siwicki said the company is willing to follow a recommendation from the city’s Green Code Study Committee that new businesses build infrastructure to handle 20% more stormwater than current standards.

The committee’s recommendation was presented at a City Council meeting earlier this week as a way to keep up with large storms becoming more common due to climate change. The city has not yet enacted an ordinance to mandate the improved infrastructure.

In response to a question from commissioners, Siwicki boasted that Sheetz has been named a Fortune 100 top place to work. The company pays competitive wages, offers good benefits and promotes internally, he said.

Sheetz could become a significant local employer and open as many as a dozen locations in the Lansing area. Sheetz opened its first Michigan location in Romulus 18 months ago. That location has not had a single employee leave since it opened, Siwicki said.

“The staff who was hired there day one, local people, are still the same staff that’s there today,” he said.

An example of a Sheetz gas station and drive-thru restaurant that was included in the Oct. 8 Planning Commission agenda packet.

While the Planning Commission unanimously recommended the proposal, support is not universal. Several residents wrote to the city opposing the development, primarily due to traffic concerns.

While the traffic study projects Sheetz would cause minimal changes, these studies are an analysis of traffic patterns that predict changes after a development is added. They aren’t an exact science and one commissioner wondered if Sheetz would end up having a larger impact than the study shows.

“I think it its newness, in its novelty, it will inherently draw more people to that intersection, which is already a dangerous intersection,” Commissioner Chelsea Denault said.

Additionally, Jason Berris, president of American Oil and Gas, which owns the recently-opened Marathon gas station across the street, wrote to the commission opposing the Sheetz. He said adding the new gas station would have a negative impact on his business, which went through a lengthy approval process.

With the Planning Commission’s recommendation in hand, Sheetz still needs approval from City Council.