Commission approves south side Kwik Trip site plan

The city of Medford cleared the final hurdle for the planned south side Kwik Trip to be built.

Members of the Medford Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a final site plan for the convenience store and gas station. It will be located at the northeast corner of the Hwy 13 and Perkins St. intersection.

According to Scott Teigen of Kwik Trip, the building will be oriented to be facing south toward Perkins with the main entry off that road. He explained there is an existing easement for a sewer lateral which serves the Medford Coopertive property to the north, which runs through the property. He said Kwik Trip had offered to relocate the lateral, but an agreement with the Medford Cooperative could not be reached so they went with the layout. “It was totally up to them,” he said, noting Kwik Trip had no problems with being south facing on the parcel.

He said the company is finalizing work with the state department of transportation for the driveway access onto Hwy 13. He noted that in the plans, the state had reduced the number of driveways on Hwy 13 from two to one.

A change from the earlier site plan addressed concerns raised by neighboring property owners about lights. The site includes a diesel truck fueling area to the east of the building. The way it was originally designed, the driveway access would have lined up with the Wanke residence on the south side of Perkins St. To alleviate concerns about truck headlights shining into the home, the driveway entrance was shifted to the west and a privacy fence backed by a row of pine trees was added to the site plan to provide screening. Teigen also noted they will be planting trees to the east side of the property to serve as screening and reduce the noise and light from impacting the neighboring mink ranch located there.

This store is one of two new Kwik Trip stores planned to be built in Medford. A north side Kwik Trip will be built in the area where the former Shay Creek Sports building is currently located.

According to Teigen demolition and site preparation will take place this fall for both locations with construction set to begin in spring 2021. He said both locations in the city will be built at the same time with about a two-week stagger between them to allow for crews to move from one site to the other. “We gain effi ciencies this way,” he said.

He anticipated the stores to open by the end of summer 2021. At which time, he said the existing store located at Clark St. and Hwy 13 will be closed and prepared for sale.

He said the transition betwen the current store closing and the new one opening would be within the same day with the second following shortly after.

“We don’t want any chance for our customers to pick up bad habits,” he said, noting their goal is to serve their customers.

Commission members unanimously approved the site plan for the store.