NORCROSS, Ga. — A plan to turn a pawn shop into a gas station on Jimmy Carter Boulevard is drawing sharp opposition from Norcross-area residents who say their community is already overwhelmed with gas stations.
Anne Myers has lived near the corner of Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Rockbridge Road since 1997. To drivers, it might look like just a busy intersection. But to her, it’s a neighborhood, and one surrounded by three gas stations at that very intersection.
“We really don’t need a 24th or 25th gas station in a two-mile radius,” Myers told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson.
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A proposal from Murphy Oil would turn a current pawn shop into a convenience store with six fuel pumps near Walmart. Residents say the area is already saturated, both with traffic and with businesses that aren’t pedestrian friendly.
“The infrastructure isn’t going to take it,” Myers said. “Let’s get something in here that doesn’t create even a worse traffic problem than we’ve got now.”
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The property sits in unincorporated Norcross, where multiple community groups have begun organizing against the plan. According to Yana Lee-Fong, who has lived in the area since 1987, she has counted 35 gas stations within a 14-square-mile radius.
“When you have that many gas stations, it crowds out opportunity for good food markets or fresh produce,” she told Channel 2 Action News. “Things we actually need.”
The engineer behind the project, Kenneth L. Peters with Keck & Wood, Inc., said the new business would not increase traffic.
“We don’t really add to the traffic volume,” he said at a Planning Commission meeting last week. “We capture the existing traffic that’s there.”
The Gwinnett County Planning Commission has already recommended denial of the project, citing long-term redevelopment goals for the area. The final decision rests with the Board of Commissioners as early as next week.
“There are close to 1,000 people who’ve signed to say no more gas stations belong here,” Myers said. “It’s about the community. This just is not the right spot.”
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