Royal Oak Planning Commission approves Sheetz proposal
ROYAL OAK — On Feb. 11, the Planning Commission approved a site plan in a 6-1 vote to build a Sheetz convenience store at 3200 W. 14 Mile Road.
Published February 17, 2025
ROYAL OAK — On Feb. 11, the Planning Commission approved a site plan in a 6-1 vote to build a Sheetz convenience store at 3200 W. 14 Mile Road.
During the public hearing, residents of Royal Oak voiced their concerns about the project, and a few community members were in support.
“I guarantee and assure you the relevant comments made by the citizens who spoke were heard and considered,” Gary Quesada, chairperson of the Planning Commission, said via email. “The duty of the planning commissioners is to confirm the criteria for a change in zoning as set forth by the ordinance at (section) 770-129. We performed our duty.”
Commissioner Brian Cooper voted no on the proposal.
Meeting attendees raised their voices, amplifying their desire to stop this project from moving forward, claiming that the addition of a Sheetz would bring crime, more traffic problems and pollution, and they said that the site is not the place to build this kind of establishment.
“My question is, ‘Why is our fate in your hands, and why isn’t this a special vote for the people in that area, the residents in that area?’ Why can’t they vote on this? Why are you making the decision for us?” Royal Oak resident Alice Churukian said. “It’s not going to affect your lives. … This is ridiculous and preposterous that we are even having this conversation or this discussion at all; you sicken me.”
Petitioner and owner Broder Sachse Real Estate is working with Krieger Klatt Architects to divide the site at 3200 W. 14 Mile Road into three parcels, rezoning two of those parcels from general industrial to general business and leaving the third parcel as general industrial.
The Sheetz site plan includes a drive-thru restaurant; eight double-sided automobile filling stations; a convenience store with sales of packaged alcohol; outdoor sales and displays; and an outdoor cafe. The site plan also includes an automatic car wash on the second rezoned parcel, and an addition to the existing maintenance building with outdoor storage on the third parcel that would remain zoned general industrial. Clover Hill Park Cemetery, immediately west of the site, would use the maintenance building.
The current site was most recently occupied by a metal fabrication facility. The proposed site plan would require the rezoning to general business in order to allow all the uses proposed by the petitioner, according to the proposal.
Included in the proposal is a traffic study prepared by Fleis & Vandenbrink dated Dec. 31, 2024, which concluded that the traffic at the intersection of Coolidge Highway and West 14 Mile Road would operate at an acceptable level. The city staff report to the Planning Commission states that the city’s engineering division is “concerned” about the intersection’s crash history and how traffic signal timings might cause issues along the 14 Mile Road corridor.
“It’s just not going to work. A development this size does not belong in this neighborhood,” Kate Thomas, 35-year resident of Royal Oak, said. “Nobody wants to live near this kind of development.”
Trish Oliver said that she hoped to see the Planning Commission “follow in the footsteps” of surrounding cities that had recently denied the approval of a Sheetz to be built, such as Rochester Hills, Madison Heights, Farmington Hills and more.
“The proposed intersection already suffers from traffic flow backups,” Oliver said. “I recently spoke to a nurse who works at Beaumont who lives near this intersection; she says she can hear the crashes from her home and then she takes care of the victims at Beaumont, so we ask you to not add any more burden to this already troubled intersection.”
The location of the site was a big topic of discussion, being in a 245,562-square-foot triangular area neighboring Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
“That plot size is not big enough for what you want to do. I’ve been in a Sheetz, it’s cool, but not in this neighborhood,” Patricia Maslowsky, from Berkley, said. “The traffic alone is intolerable, but there’s a cemetery to the west, people are trying to put their loved ones to rest and they are going to be putting up with noise and lights. There is no peace and quiet.”
A few residents also brought up the possibility of higher crime rates.
“In January of 2024, the VP of Sheetz even admitted needing help from Congress in streamlining reporting of crime,” Nancy Proposki said. “Knowing that Sheetz is plagued with crime, why would you want it in your residential area, and not by itself off the freeway?”
Mayor Mike Fournier said that Royal Oak is one of the safest cities in Michigan, and he has not been aware of any uptick in crime related to establishments open for 24 hours.
“I’ll just say, I have not received any feedback from our Police Department about the 24/7 establishments we have,” Fournier said. “We have a number of 24/7 stores and gas stations already in the city, and we have a good working relationship with the PD. … I am not saying it doesn’t exist, but it hasn’t come across my table in overall public safety discussions related to 24-hour, seven-day-a-week establishments that exist in the city today.”
Steve Robinson, vice president of acquisitions and development for Broder Sachse Real Estate, responded to the public comments and questions from the commissioners.
Robinson addressed a concern that was mentioned multiple times, whether the site will be a truck stop with parking for trucks and gas for trucks, which he said was untrue.
“We are completely empathetic to the concern (of traffic),” Robinson said. “We would be more than happy to have the community do a peer review of our traffic consultant; we’re quite comfortable with our consultant that works in a lot of communities.”
“We understand the anxiety that can create and we want to be respectful to the comments that we’ve heard tonight, especially as it relates to traffic, and we want to make sure that we work with this community to incorporate whatever is appropriate to make this the most safest location that it can be,” Robinson said.
Commissioner Sharlan Douglas asked Robinson to speak on the issue of crime associated with Sheetz.
“I think most of the crime conversation has been based on something that somebody read in another community,” Robinson said. “I think it’s also based on the issue of 24 hours, I think in our current economy, especially given this location in proximity to the industrial district of Troy and Royal Oak, people that work late shifts deserve to be able to get gas, they deserve to get food, they’re not criminals, they’re people that work night shifts instead of day shifts.”
Robinson also stated he would be “happy” to consult with the Royal Oak Police Department on its experience with 24-hour establishments within the community and crime.
Since the plan was approved in a 6-1 vote on Feb. 11, the next step will be for the developer to pay for a peer review of the submitted traffic study. The peer review must be completed before the development proposal at 3200 W. 14 Mile Road will be submitted to the City Commission for consideration, according to the Planning Division.
Quesada said that he welcomes even the most spirited or passionate speakers when it comes to public hearings, but he hopes that future meetings can be a little bit more calm.
“That requires taking turns speaking and being quiet when it’s not your turn to speak,” he said. “I am confident as we move forward, we can continue to make the Planning Commission meetings more like a court hearing than a football game.”
