Wasilla gas station permit faces unresolved highway access question before July 28 hearing

A proposed convenience store and gas station on W. Parks Highway in Wasilla has city planning staff recommending approval with conditions, but an unfinished state highway access review remains open ahead of the July 28 Wasilla Planning Commission hearing.

Scott Jones of SAJJ, Inc. is seeking a conditional use permit on behalf of owner KG Enterprises LLC to build the Valley Country Store 5, an 11,144-square-foot single-story convenience store and gas station on three contiguous lots totaling 5.94 acres at 1451 W. Parks Highway. The site slopes roughly 30 feet from north to south. Primary access runs through an existing driveway from W. Parks Highway. A proposed new driveway would provide secondary access to W. Nicola Avenue. The site plan identifies 30 paved parking spaces.

City planning staff recommend approval with five conditions: paving the first 40 feet of driveways adjacent to roadways, identifying snow storage areas on the site plan, obtaining sign permits, and verifying that existing vegetation along W. Nicola Avenue meets buffer landscaping standards. The site would use an on-site septic system rather than a municipal sewer connection. Staff also cite grade separation and buffering as compatibility measures for nearby Rural Residential properties north and south of the site.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities reviewed the application and directed the applicant to continue working through a Traffic Impact Analysis with DOT&PF Right of Way and DOT&PF Traffic and Safety to determine access to Parks Highway and any required mitigation. That process was not resolved when the agenda packet was published. The applicant is responsible for obtaining all DOT&PF approvals as a separate step. The agency is already planning corridor improvements between Lucus Road and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Two agency review comments and two public comments were received by the July 21 packet deadline. Two mailed notices were returned. All are included in the published agenda packet.

The commission is scheduled to hear public testimony at 6 p.m. on July 28 at Wasilla City Hall. Written comments submitted after July 21 can still be presented in person at the hearing.