Company willing to give neighbors gas station they want
Carrollwood Village demands a station that sports a residential-style design. The gas company says it's working on a new look.
By TIM GRANT
Published May 30, 2003
CARROLLWOOD - Homeowners in Carrollwood Village are not backing down on their demands for a residential-style gas station at the Village Corners shopping center.
The gas company that is buying the property, however, appears ready to cave in and give the residents a design they'll be happy with.
"I'll try my best to present something they like," said Hamid Ghannad, vice president of operations for Golf Oil. Ghannad said his company is now working on a new design to show to the Carrollwood homeowners.
The project at 4550 W Village Drive remains unfinished since construction was halted early this year. County building code inspectors issued a stop-work order until Golf Oil can show its gas pump canopy will comply with zoning restrictions.
Because of a 20-year-old zoning rule that bars high-intensity commercial signs at that location, Golf Oil will have to get approval from Hillsborough County commissioners for significant changes.
"Our message to Golf Oil is put it back to where it was before and we will not oppose it," said John Miley, a Carrollwood Village homeowner. "However, if they continue down the path indicated in their artist rendering, they can expect every bit of opposition we can muster."
The biggest bone of contention is that homeowners want the wooden canopy that used to cover the gas pumps replaced. Golf Oil wants to build a steel canopy that looks like wood. But the homeowners' problems with the proposed gas station don't end there.
Based on an artist rendering Golf Oil gave residents, they say the canopy over the gas pumps is too tall, the lighting too bright, and it appears that a berm which used to conceal the pumps from West Village Drive has been leveled to make way for a lighted Marathon Gas sign to which they object.
Marathon Gas will run the gas station. Golf Oil, which sells the fuel wholesale to Marathon Gas, is buying the station from its current owner.
The gas station at S Village and W Village drives has been vacant since it burned two years ago in a fire, the cause of which was never determined.
When Golf Oil decided to reopen the gas station, the company was not aware of the 20-year-old zoning at that location. The company applied for and was granted a permit that would allow it to replace the wooden canopy with a lighted one displaying the Marathon Gas company name.
- Tim Grant can be reached at (813) 269-5311 or at grant@sptimes.com
