By Bill Short
The Millington Planning Commission has approved the Site Plan and Design for a convenience store with fuel pumps east of Highway 51 and north of Shipp Road.
Commission members took the action during their Dec. 15, 2025 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Bethany Huffman and seconded by Mayor Larry Dagen.
The motion was passed by six affirmative votes, with Vice Chairman Chuck Hurt Jr. absent.
The Site Plan was submitted by Rusty Norville of Civil Engineering Solutions LLC on behalf of Bernard Faber of Eastview Properties LLC.
The property, zoned B-2, General Commercial, and Highway 51 Special Sign Overlay District, totals 1.34 acres.
Jared Darby, director of the city’s Department of Planning and Economic Development, told the commission that the proposed convenience store will consist of one building and an associated fuel canopy.
He noted that the main structure will total 4,950 square feet, and the secondary structure will house six fuel pumps.
A dedicated stormwater detention area will be on the east side of the property to the rear of the main structure.
While noting that the site will have two access points, Darby said Shipp Road is wide enough for two lanes of traffic.
The western access point along the highway will be a “shared” drive with an adjacent vacant restaurant building.
Darby said traffic circulation will be enabled by an “array” of vehicle paths that provide complete access around the fuel canopy and only to the west side of the primary structure.
As required by the city’s Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations, an additional lane will be provided along Shipp and the highway, as well as new left- and right-turn lanes.
Darby said a new sidewalk with a grass median will be constructed along the boundaries of the property.
Although there is currently no pedestrian access from the public right of way to the entrance of the primary structure, he said that can be rectified by an extension of the sidewalk on the building’s southwest corner.
The Zoning Ordinance requires one parking space for every 200 square feet of building space, which amounts to 25 for this project. But the applicant will provide 28.
Darby said a proposed 24-to-30-foot aisle width for vehicle circulation will allow one queuing space on each side of a fuel pump.
He noted that the design of the structure provides for stone and brick as the only façade materials, with a small amount of Exterior Insulation and Finish System as the trim for the roof line or cornice.
Stone veneer will form a wainscot around all four elevations and is the primary façade material for the entry tower.
Decorative metal canopies will be situated above the windows and doors.
Darby said the proposed fuel canopy will complement the primary structure with a brick base for the columns and E.I.F.S. as the majority of the column wrap.
He noted that the planning staff had suggested similar stone veneer for the column base, brick for the remaining material and E.I.F.S. for the canopy material.
For landscaping, Darby said the applicant will provide the necessary street frontage trees, featuring Willow Oaks and Eastern Redbud.
The parking islands will have the required evergreen shrubs, and the public right of way will be shielded with Needlepoint Hollies and Grey Owl Junipers.
Darby said the photometric for the site illustrates the appropriate footcandles at the property’s boundaries, as well as the required lighting for pedestrian and vehicular circulation.
It will use the standard 90-degree “shoebox fixture” pole lighting with a 16-foot height.
Because the east side of the property abuts an R-2, Medium-Density Residential zoning district, Darby said the Zoning Ordinance mandates a solid masonry fence between the two zones.
But he acknowledged that the Site Plan and Design sections of the city’s regulations allow the commission to approve “reasonable alternatives.”
If the “natural vegetation” is approved as the required buffer, he said the Site Plan and Final Plat would have to illustrate a “no disturb” easement.
While noting that the minimum size for a buffer yard is usually 10 feet, Darby said it would require a masonry wall and a shade tree approximately every 30 feet.
For this project, because of the small space between the detention area and the existing creek, he said the staff recommended a 10-foot buffer and the associated screening materials.
Although Norville called the staff-requested “architectural components” for the building “fair,” he did not think it would be necessary to construct a wall with fences in a drainage easement.
He also said it would be difficult to put a wall on top of a “berm” in the detention area along the west side of the drainage channel.
“That’s the only real iffy thing on this whole project that I’m a little concerned about,” he noted. “But I think we can kind of work through that with the staff and try to get that finalized.”
Agreeing with Norville, Darby said he is “not married” to a wall.
He acknowledged that a short wall “up against the building” would be “almost mirroring” what the building does itself.
Darby also said the applicant had provided a “gracious” landscaping plan.
“So, if the commission were to give the staff the authority to work with the applicant on maybe just an evergreen landscaping,” he said, “I think we could come up with a product that would work well for all parties involved.”
Darby also noted that the commission initially approved this proposed development almost three years ago.
So, it is not affected by the 12-month moratorium on construction of new convenience stores that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved in February 2025.
He said it is also not included in the commission’s proposed amendment to the Zoning Ordinance that would regulate the use of such stores.
At its Jan. 12 regular monthly meeting, the city board unanimously passed the amending ordinance on first reading.
It is scheduled for final reading at the board’s Feb. 9 meeting.
