Planning commission approves OnCue zoning request
The Oklahoma City Planning Commission voted 6-2 Thursday to recommend the Oklahoma City Council approve a rezoning to allow OnCue to build a station at NW 13 and Classen Boulevard after three hours of debate among neighbors and nearby businesses.
The station represents OnCue's first effort to expand into the urban core.
Janis Powers and Asa Highsmith were the only commissioners to vote “no” on the application, which they said could create traffic entanglements at the already failing intersection that dovetails into Western Avenue.
In asking for the rezoning, attorney David Box noted the application is for the smallest station built by OnCue with eight pumps instead of the usual 14, no free-standing signs, double the required landscaping, an expanded buffer from neighboring homes, no speaker at the drive-thru and 24-hour security.
In response to concerns about OnCue’s original plan to tear down two century-old historic homes on the corner, Box said OnCue has arranged to move the homes and donate them for new addresses with nonprofit urban home developer Positively Paseo. The company also has paid for traffic engineering studies, is willing to pay for recommended changes to the intersection,
and also will repave an adjoining alley.
“Overall, I believe what you’re getting with this OnCue is a store that is needed, a market that is underserved, and a property that can be a catalyst for additional development,” Box said. “They are a wonderful corporate citizen that has shown they will spend the money to be good neighbors.”
Several of the commissioners noted OnCue is a popular and well-run gas station and convenience store operator, though the area’s own commissioner, Highsmith, dismissed such talk noting gas stations are like cigarettes, that a gas station is still a gas station and
is an inappropriate suburban use for an urban location.
Highsmith and Powers both argued the area is not an appropriate fit for an OnCue. Some neighbors argued against the portrayal of their area as being seedy and dark and in need of the security and lighting offered by the company. Other nearby residents said the area is troubled and can be helped by the presence of a well-run OnCue.
Safdar Muhammad, who owns an older Gulf station across the street, argued his station and other smaller businesses already fill the area’s needs. Smaller, older stations throughout the metro, especially Circle K stations, have closed after facing the opening of a nearby OnCue.
Several of the commissioners who voted for the
rezoning were influenced by arguments made by Box and Commissioner Michael Hensley that the first rezoning for an OnCue eight years ago at Northwest Expressway and Wilshire was greeted with similar concerns, including a failing intersection.
Hensley, who lives in the area, was in the minority voting against that rezoning — a vote he now regrets.
“Experience has shown this similar development in my neighborhood has been a benefit,” Hensley said. “They are good citizens. They run a nice place. All of the issues raised were addressed by OnCue. They improved that intersection significantly from an appearance standpoint, an operation standpoint and a safety standpoint.”