ROYAL OAK, Mich. (FOX 2) - Next month, the Royal Oak Planning Commission will address a proposal to add a Kroger to an intersection that has been the topic of discussion recently after a Sheetz development was also approved for the area.
The grocery chain is seeking to build a store and gas station on the former Comau Industries site at 14 Mile and Coolidge.
The backstory:
Kroger, which has not yet purchased the land, is requesting a conditional rezoning of the land. The site is currently zoned as general industrial. If approved, the site would be changed to general business, paving the way for retail.
According to planning documents, Kroger wants to build a grocery store that will be roughly 103,000 square feet, along with a fuel center with room for up to 10 vehicles at a time.
In addition to the zoning request, the company is requesting variances of several zoning requirements in order to build the store and gas station. This includes being allowed to have light poles taller than 30 feet and exceeding the building height limit of 36 feet by a little over a foot and a half.
The new Kroger would be about a mile away from an existing Kroger on Coolidge in Troy. FOX 2 has reached out to Kroger to see what, if anything, would happen to that store if the new store is built.
Dig deeper:
Coolidge intersects 14 Mile Road at two spots - west of the railroad tracks and east of the railroad tracks. The new Kroger store would be east of the tracks on the northeast side of Coolidge, just down the road from the Sheetz gas station that was recently green-lighted by the city commission.
That development has been a contentious issue, with some saying that the intersection is too busy for the gas station, which would be open 24/7. Those who have spoken at planning commission and city commission meetings said they were concerned about congestion and increased crashes in the area if a gas station is added.
The city said a traffic study was conducted, which included some changes to the intersection where Sheetz will be located, such as changing it from a three-right stop light to a four-way light.
What's next:
The city planning commission is slated to discuss the rezoning proposal during its July 8 meeting.
The Source: City planning documents and previous FOX 2 stories were used in this report.
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