Increased traffic, decreased property value and no demand are some of the reasons why some residents near the proposed Stribling Market at the entrance of the Lake Caroline subdivision have stated they don’t want it.
Not all residents are in favor of the potential convenience store and some strongly oppose it. The Madison County Board of Supervisors will vote on the Stribling Market project on July 3 after the planning and zoning board approved it on the condition of a traffic study. The store would be at Stribling Road and Bellevue Drive, which is next to the neighborhood’s main entrance.
“I just can’t understand how anyone could possibly think that locating a convenience store within a neighborhood is a great idea,” Lake Caroline resident of nine years Mickey Watkins said. “It is just going to be a congestion nightmare.”
Watkins said, even if a stoplight is added, it will cause traffic to back up worse than it already does and that area can’t support more traffic. Melissa Love who lives in the Ashbrooke subdivision, which is 250 feet away from the proposed store, said although a traffic study has been requested by the county prior to implementing Stribling Market, traffic is not nearly as heavy now as it is during the school year.
“In order to provide an accurate traffic impact study, the study should be conducted while K-12 schools are in session,” Love said. “As a resident, I can confirm that the vehicle traffic on Stribling Road is at a standstill during weekdays during peak commute times.”
In a 2017 study titled “The Impacts of Gasoline Stations on Residential Property Values” from the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, a ‘hedonic pricing model’ was used to measure the impact of gas stations on the sales prices of just over 600 residential units that were within 1,000 meters from a gas station.
The study showed a 16 percent decrease in property value for homes within 328 feet, while no negative effects were found for homes outside of 1,968.5 feet.
The proposed market will be 250 feet from Ashbrooke property lines and the additional proposed entry and exit roadway point will be 150 feet from those property lines. The additional entry and exit will be 200 feet from the existing Lake Caroline entrance from Stribling Road.
“The additional entry way may be unnecessary and lead to civilians using the gas station as a ‘cut-through’ to access Stribling Road,” Love said.
Lake Caroline resident Paulette White said her neighbors across the street will be looking at the convenience store from their backyard.
“Everybody is worried about their property values being affected negatively,” White said. “It was zoned commercially in 1987, but there was nothing out here. Now, we’ve added all these people and their children.”
Residents also feel there is no need for Stribling Market in this location because there are three other gas stations within a three mile radius, nine within five miles, and additional ones under construction now within Gluckstadt.
“It is my opinion as a resident that there is not a need for more gas stations,” Love said. “An additional structure will also bring additional noise pollution, light pollution, and additional potential crime, depending on variables such as hours of operation and goods sold.”
Love said, based on her brief research, she does believe stakeholders, developers, and homeowners may all benefit to some extent without the negative impacts, but only as long as the structure is far enough away from the homes and accurately represented through a thorough traffic study that proves the Stribling Market endeavor to be feasible.
However, Watkins said he, among others, will boycott the store should it move forward and “will never set foot in it.”
