The Keizer City Council on Monday rejected an effort to build a gas station near Keizer Station, heeding concerns from neighbors about traffic, student safety and odors.

Developers had asked the city to lift the ban on gas stations as they consider a new project on Northeast Lockhaven Drive between Keizer Station Boulevard and McLeod Lane.

The impact of the gas station decision wasn’t immediately clear. The station would have gone on the corner of Lockhaven Drive and McLeod Lane, but the identity of the developer of that property wasn’t disclosed at Monday’s council session.

Marion County recorder’s documents show that Keizer Retail Center LLC bought the corner property, once intended for a doctors’ complex, for $2.45 million in May. That company was formed by a Turner man extensively involved in convenience store operations.

Councilors at the same time cleared one hurdle to bringing a Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers restaurant to the entrance of Keizer Station. Current city rules prohibit businesses in that area that rely on drive-thru traffic.

In related action, the council approved the sale of 4.6 acres of city property along Lockhaven Drive to Terra Firma Property Development. The company, backed by Clutch Industries of Salem, will pay $4.6 million – if it can get the city approvals it needs for its project. 

Terra Firm hasn’t disclosed what it intends for the long-empty ground.

But the council’s attention Monday night was focused on the prospect of a gas station.

In letters and in testimony, one resident after another gave councilors the same message: No gas station.

When planning was done for Keizer Station nearly a decade ago, the city included a ban on gas stations and businesses with drive-thru service for certain portions of the huge project. That included what is referred to as Area B – the land along Lockhaven Drive at the entrance to the shopping complex.

The concern then, city officials said, was to manage traffic.

“The quality of life in my home will no longer be the same.”

–Keizer resident Jan Sykes

But agents of the developers told councilors there was good reason to lift the ban.  

Britany Randall, a planning consultant, said in a written submission that a gas station and drive-thru restaurant would “attract business to the currently vacant parcels” to promote growth.

“Vacant land in such a high-profile location represents a missed opportunity,” she said in remarks Monday night to councilors.

AJ Nash, a real estate agent working with the developers, said councilors should be wary of the message their ultimate decision would send.

“We don’t say that Keizer’s closed for business,” he said.

Nash said a six-pump station was proposed.

“It would be a low-cost gas that would help, be just for the neighborhood,” Nash said.

But neighbors lined up to disagree, including several people who live on Northeast Dennis Ray Avenue. The short street east of McLeod Lane includes homes that abut the development property.

Jan Sykes said her family moved 30 years ago to Dennis Ray Avenue – a home she said she just paid off.

“In my yard, I want to tend my chickens. I want to grow my raspberries,” she said, but a gas station next door “would be horrible…The quality of life in my home will no longer be the same.”

Witnesses also worried about increased traffic on Lockhaven and on McLeod.

One speaker noted that students walk in the area to get to Whiteaker Middle School and Gubser Elementary School.

“I’m pleading with you to protect our children,” she said.

Nadine Stoltz said she and her husband built their home on Dennis Way in 1990. She said her family would not have bought the property had there been the “slightest possibility of a gas station.”

She also raised concerns about fumes and potential leaks from underground fuel tanks. 

“Smells will increase,” Stoltz said.

The council was unanimous in rejecting the gas station proposal.

Most witnesses had no concerns with allowing rule changes for Raising Cane’s to go in on the east side of Keizer Station Boulevard next to the Keizer Transit Center.

The council’s actions don’t greenlight the chicken restaurant, however. Developers still have to go through yet another round of city processes for permission to build.

That also would have been true for the proposed gas station. More public hearings and the possible imposition of other restrictions would still have been possible.

The council’s action rejected a recommendation from the Keizer Planning Commission to approve the changes. The commission voted in May to support the changes after holding its own public hearing.