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Albertson's wins gas station dispute Dismayed residents fail to sway commission By Jim Davis Albertson's is going into the gas business in Medford. The grocery store chain got approval Friday to add a station next to its soon-to-be-open store at North Phoenix and Barnett roads. "I think the decision is fair," said Ty Rule, an Albertson's representative from Boise, Idaho. "We're interested in the good of the community." The Medford Site, Plan and Architectural Commission voted 4-3 to approve the station, but restricted the hours it will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Neighbors in the residential Alder Creek subdivision had argued against the station, complaining about lighting, traffic and the possibility of fumes and gasoline spills. "I'm going to boycott your store," Florence Jacobs said to Rule as she left the meeting. In September 1996, C.A. Galpin got approval to build an Albertson's and three smaller buildings on a 10.7-acre strip along North Phoenix Road. The store is scheduled to open in June. The center will also feature a Hallmark store, an Asian Grill and a Blockbuster video store. There's an 8-foot-high wall between the center and the subdivision and a yet-to-be built 15-foot landscaped strip between the businesses and homes. At the time, the plans did not mention a gas station. Earlier this spring, Keywest Properties Inc., acting on behalf of Albertson's, asked for a change in the master plan to include the eight-pump gas station -- an Albertson's A-Express Fuel Center. About 75 neighbors signed a petition against the station and about 30 people wrote letters opposing the idea. At the commission meeting on Friday, Peter Gutting, a Medford architect working on the project, said Albertson's started placing gas stations at its grocery stores about a year ago. "There is no other fuel option without going down Barnett, through four stoplights and two miles away to a congested intersection," he said. About 40 people appeared at the meeting and more than a dozen spoke out against the plans, noting the station would be built on high land and would overlook their neighborhood. Glenn Eshoo, who lives across the street from the proposed station, said that he can already see light coming into his home from the center. "Entertaining guests with the light of a gas station coming into your front window wouldn't be pleasant," Eshoo said. Jacobs, who gathered the signatures for the petition with her husband, Jack Jacobs, argued that the station was incompatible with the neighborhood. "It's going to ruin our quality of life, and home values," she said. Commission chairman Jon Elliott voted against the gas station. "Now suddenly Albertson's wants to get into the gas business and they're going to shove it down (the neighbors') throats ... I'm going to vote no as a sympathy vote for the neighbors," he said. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA