Service station operator RaceTrac says its planned 8,100-square-foot travel center in Greenville will boast fine food, clean amenities and, of course, plenty of gasoline.
But residents of the surrounding Riverheads community aren’t buying the Atlanta-based firm’s pitch. They say the intersection of U.S. 340 and U.S. 11, where RaceTrac hopes to build, is already home to two travel centers, four traditional gas stations and too much traffic.
RaceTrac has yet to make a formal application to Augusta County for the proposed 13-pump travel center, but it hosted a community forum last month to give neighbors a chance to look over renderings, hear plans and share their own thoughts.
If the thoughts shared by the crowd of less than 100 that showed up are any indication, RaceTrac has its work cut out for itself.
Former Augusta County Supervisor Nancy Sorrells said the three schools in the area where the travel center is proposed already bring in 2,000 people daily. She said traffic is so bad the roadways are in need of a total overhaul to accommodate motorists before any new development.
“We don’t need you to make it worse,’’ Sorrells told RaceTrac officials at the forum Sept. 11. “You are not respecting our community.”
Longtime Riverheads resident Chapman Williams reflected the sentiment of many in the audience: He said neighbors have complained about the traffic the Pilot travel center attracts for the past 25 years, but the Virginia Department of Transportation has not addressed those concerns whatsoever.
“VDOT has kicked the ball down the road,’’ he said.
RaceTrac project manager Taylor Pounds said RaceTrac has been working with local leaders, including Sorrells and Riverheads District Supervisor Mike Shull, and that it would be required to do a traffic analysis before building anything.
Sorrells asked RaceTrac company officials if they had been in communication with the school division about their plans, but they said they had only spoken with Riverheads High School about renting its auditorium for the meeting.
Multiple neighbors said the area already has enough gas stations, including the two other travel centers operated by Pilot and Love’s; what it urgently needs is a grocery store.
Pounds told the crowd that the travel center would include “a pretty good product with nice, refreshing architecture’’ and food offerings such as coffee, pizza and grab-and-go bites to eat.
But one local resident told the RaceTrac officials that even the mere mention of “a watermelon stand’’ at the proposed travel center location would not be welcome.
RaceTrac is considering scaling down the project. Already, Pounds said, the company is only planning to build on 10 of the 35 acres at the site. Moreover, he said, if the company reduces the six diesel pumps behind the travel center — which are in addition to the 13 traditional gas pumps — then RaceTrac would not have to apply for a special-use permit from the county at all.
At the forum’s close, Pounds said he “has rarely encountered this passion’’ when working on a project. He said the company would take the community input back to officials in Atlanta.
“This has shed light on issues to work on,’’ he said.
RaceTrac, founded originally in Missouri, has more than 800 U.S. locations. Pounds said the company is planning to break ground on its first Virginia location in South Hill later this year.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com