Representatives from Kroger have filed a new zone change application regarding the company's grocery store on Euclid Avenue. The application includes new preliminary plans for the store, with several differences to the initially proposed design.
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A rending of the new design for Kroger, as seen from Euclid Avenue. Click the image to see a larger version.
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New Kroger on Euclid Avenue at the corner of Marquis Avenue. Marquis Avenue is the planned location of the exterior mural.
The current store is 38,641 square feet and zoned B-1. This zoning designation only allows for a store to be 40,000 square feet. Kroger representatives are applying for a B-69 Zone "shopping center" designation, which would accommodate the company's plans for a completely new store, originally planned for approximately 64,000 square feet.
Along with applying for a new zoning designation, Kroger representatives are asking for a number of variances to restrictions to a B-69 Zone, according to the application material, such as allowing three exterior walls to exceed 100 feet without a change in the setback; reducing the 50-foot setback to 25 feet along Marquis Avenue; increasing the amount of space a building can cover on a lot from 35 percent to 50 percent; and reducing the setback from 50 feet to 40 feet along Euclid Avenue and in the back of the store.
Kroger representatives will present their justifications for the variances to a zoning subcommittee of the Planning Commission at 1:30 p.m. May 2. The meeting is open to the public, but public comment is not always available. The zoning subcommittee will vote whether or not to recommend the zoning application to the Planning Commission, which will hold a public hearing on the matter at 1:30 p.m. May 23 – public comment will be available at this meeting.
Aside from increasing the size, according to plans, the store would be reoriented to face east, toward Ashland Avenue (instead of toward Euclid Avenue, as the store sits now), and situated in a manner to have exterior walls much closer to Euclid and Marquis avenues. Kroger plans on installing an outdoor eating area with benches and an entrance to a cafe along Euclid.
Plans also include a drive-thru pharmacy, which would be located on the southwest side of the store, closest to Ashland Terrance, as well as uncovered roof-top parking which would have 125 spaces. There also would be 99 ground-level parking spaces available. Customers would access the roof-top lot via a ramp, also on the southwest side of the store, and the grocery would utilize a number of new apparatuses to convey shoppers, including an elevator which would hold carts and customers and a “cartalator” – a type of escalator for grocery carts.
The Aylesford Place Neighborhood Association will host a meeting to discuss the new changes in the design plans at 7 p.m. May 7 at Woodland Christian Church.