QuikTrip Plans To Take Its Time With Ormewood Park Site

City officials last week reversed an earlier decision to replat a parcel of land in Ormewood Park that would have paved the way for the construction of a controversial QuikTrip filling station and convenience store.

But Tulsa, OK-based QuikTrip Corp., said Monday it remains interested in the parcel of land on the west side of Moreland Avenue between Ormewood Avenue and Hall Street.

In a letter dated May 25, Charletta Wilson Jacks, director of the planning office, wrote the decision to split the commercial lot into two separate parcels had to be reversed because it violates a city regulation .

Property owner Gobind L. Madan has 30 days to appeal that decision.

He could seek to replat the land into two parcels reconfigured to different dimensions to fit city regulations, QT could decide to scale down the size of its project, or Madan and QT could do both.

Whatever the company ultimately decides, it doesn't seem to be in any hurry.

"We will use due diligence and take our time in regards to the Moreland site," QT spokesman Mike Thornbrugh told East Atlanta Patch Monday in an e-mail response to questions.

Jacks' decision came after the South Atlantans for Neighborhood Development, which represents Ormewood Park and other southeast Atlanta communities, hired Robert Zoeckler, a land use lawyer and former Atlanta senior assistant city attorney.

Zoeckler, who met with city officials, noted the discrepancy with the planning department's earlier decision to split the parcel in two separate commercial lots.

The project has meet plenty of resistance from Ormewood Park residents who say a gas station should not be so close to single family homes, would create more traffic snafus at the Moreland and Ormewood Avenue intersection and force motorists into the neighborhood side streets.

Ron Lall, board chairman of SouthStar Community Development Corp., which advocates for several communities along the Moreland Avenue corridor, said he's pleased with the city's decision but acknowledged Madan's right to appeal.

"We do know the applicant has 30 days to appeal," Lall said, noting some of the possible scenarios available to Madan. "Right now, it's not clear what some of these possible next steps might be."

SouthStar, he said, has been in talks with QT's Atlanta-based officials, and has identified at least three sites on Moreland opponents say makes better sense for the company and is less disruptive to homeowners in southeast Atlanta.

But Thornbrugh, QT's spokesman said he was "not aware of any discussions for another site."