Livonia City Council voting on proposed Sheetz gas station
LIVONIA, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — The Livonia City Council will vote on a proposed Sheetz location during its regular meeting on Monday.
It's one of 60 locations Sheetz wants to bring to Michigan. So far, each proposed location in Metro Detroit has received pushback from the community.
The proposed site for the new Sheetz gas station in Livonia is on Eight Mile and Newburgh roads, where the former Rite Aid once stood. Right next door is Brokerage, and the employees there are not happy about the proposal. Bellabay Realty has been in the location for 11 years.
"If they're going to open up Sheetz right next door, that means my office is going to have to leave as well, and my business will be no more here in Livonia," said Natasha Richards, real estate broker at Bellabay Realty.
The employees there say this is a residential area and a 24-hour gas station is not the right business for this community.
"You've got historic Mead, you've got historic buildings here, you've got a daycare center across the street, you've got a home that caters to the children during the holidays, and I think that's going to pose a problem," Richards said.
They say the lot is too small for a Sheetz, which typically includes multiple pumps and a restaurant.
"I would love to see, see sheets do business closer to a freeway. I don't see that. I don't see it being a good location for one. And again, as our broker stated Location, location, location. This is not the location for that particular business," said Caroline Nelson, licensed realtor at Bellabay Realty.
They're also concerned about the type of people that might visit Sheetz late at night.
"I think that it's just way too big for this area, that it might bring in riffraff. It might cause something different on this corner. This is a real quiet corner. I'd like to see a nice store next door like we had Rite Aid," said real estate agent Janine Hill.
They say Livonia is a family-friendly city, and they want to keep it that way.
The city council will vote on the proposal during the regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday.
