Owners of a Marion Township gas station will have to wait a little longer than they expected for approval of a small expansion.

The Pardiac Shell Station is on D-19 near Schafer Road. The long-time owners were before the Marion Township Board of Trustees, Thursday night, asking for special use permit approval for a 600 foot cooler in the back of the station. Since the time the station was built, ordinances in the township had changed, triggering their need to come in. The station is already a legally non-conforming use and some members of the board felt it might be bad practice to make it even more non-conforming. Officials, sensing future problems with the way it and the lot next to it are zoned, wondered if it would be better to combine the lots into one large parcel. The Pardiac Shell owners own both. Marion Township Supervisor Bob Hanvey thought this solution might be best for all parties. The Board believes it would help with parking and make the land easier to sell in the future should the owners ever wish to. The owners expressed a wish to keep the parcels separate.

Owners and their representation were frustrated, having received a recommendation for approval from the planner, the Planning Commission, Road Commission, and other invested parties. They claimed to have already paid $10,000 in escrow and $750 in fees just to put in a cooler. It was revealed that the new site plan hadn’t gone to the township’s lawyer to review. This is required unless the Board waives its necessity. They voted to send it to their attorney for review, with hopes that they might get it back on the agenda for their next meeting.

Picture - Google Street View (MK)