HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter #091 Stephen Claffey
Shestak, Joe
From:STEPHEN CLAFFEY <saclaffe@icloud.com>
Sent:Saturday, July 18, 2020 3:48 PM
To:Shestak, Joe
Subject:Proposed Variance for Gas Station and Car Wash in Village of West Clay
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Dear Carmel City Council Members:
My wife and I reside in the Village of West Clay. We are adamantly opposed to the development of a gas station and
car/truck wash in the Village at the intersection of Harleston Street and Towne Road. We ask that the project be
stopped, with required zoning variances and rezoning blocked. This project has been mischaracterized as a convenience
store with a few gas pumps. The number of pumps and wash bays planned for this project make it larger than most
Speedway gas stations, and just as undesirable.
As a commercial attorney for many years I represented several companies which owned and operated a large number of
convenience /gas stations, and I represented commercial lenders which financed large convenience store operations.
Many ended in bankruptcy or liquidation, with a substantial number also leaving behind underground storage tanks
which had leaked and created major environmental contamination.
Why the high failure rate, with many of the stations being then acquired by individual entrepreneurs who own only one
or two stations and do not have the capital to rehabilitate the property? There is little profit in gas sales at the retail
level, requiring the operator to make its profits on car wash sales and convenience store sales. Car washes of the size
planned are essentially light industrial uses. To make money, convenience stores must rely on heavy sales of tobacco,
lottery tickets, alcohol and quick prepared food for workers with short meal breaks. All these are already available
within a few minutes drive. There are no gas station/convenience stores known to me that are primarily food
operations. When the Village residents use this station mostly for gas purchases, the inevitable outcome is a decline in
maintenance and upkeep to the store. Even if the station does not fail, it will not be the type of store which is
appropriate for this location. Please observe any Speedway station that has been in operation for more than a few
years. Check out the cleanliness and the state of repair.
Then, please take action to block this development.
Thank you.
Stephen A. Claffey
12621 Treaty Line Street
Carmel, IN 46032
317-443-5859
saclaffe@icloud.com
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