The hearing involved more than 20 speakers with opponents of the plan outnumbering supporters by nearly a four to one margin.
Council’s decision followed a July recommendation by the city’s planning commission to deny the proposal.
Wawa’s plans have included a 5,919-square-foot site on 2.2 acres near Interstate 675 at 600 E. Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, city records show. Fairborn initially had planned to hold the public hearing in August, but delayed it until this week.
Wawa received approval in September to build a site in Huber Heights. The business has said it plans to open 60 stores in Ohio in the next 10 years.
The Fairborn plans have included 30-35 full-time jobs at a site that would be open 24 hours a day, city records show.
Wawa has been seeking a change to Fairborn’s zoning on a site that has two buildings, according to city records.
Community concerns about the plan include too many gas stations in the area, opposition to a 24-hour operation, safety and traffic issues, a decrease in nearby residential property values and the sale of alcoholic beverages, among others, Fairborn records state.
Project representatives have held community meetings with residents to address their concerns, according to the city.
“Staff is supportive that this convenient store in conjunction with the fuel-service use can co-exist with adjacent commercial and residential uses,” City Planner Kathleen Riggs said in an Aug. 3 memo.
Plans for Wawa called for the demolition of buildings and a parking lot, to be replaced for retail and restaurant use with eight double-sided fuel pumps, according to the city.
In the past two years, multiple gas station/convenience store chains have made plans to expand in the region, with Sheetz and Wawa newly launching, UDF opening an expanded style of store, and Casey’s expanding the Ohio footprint they started about five years ago.
Wawa is a gas station chain known for its food and beverage offerings like custom-made hoagies and specialty drinks. It announced in December 2022 plans to expand to Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
The company has about 1,000 stores located in the eastern states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Florida and Washington, D.C.
In Butler County, a race of sorts is now going on at a Liberty Twp. intersection with hometown United Dairy Farmers (UDF) breaking into the lead so far against East Coast chain Wawa’s first store in the region.
Separated by Liberty Way at eastern corners of the Cincinnati-Dayton Road intersection, the two convenience store chains both are building new stores at the high-profile location, which is on the border of Butler County’s booming Liberty and West Chester townships. UDF’s original store at the southeast corner was recently leveled as the convenience story company works to build a new, larger outlet. Giant gas storage tanks were installed underground last week as site work continues.
Wawa grabbed headlines earlier this year when it announced it would build its first southwest Ohio store at the long-abandoned northeast corner, which had once seen a Dairy Mart and a pool supply company but in recent years was an empty building.
Both companies reflect the rapid development of recent years along Liberty Way — near its Interstate 75 interchange — as businesses and residential housing springs up along the road that also serves as the border between the two townships.
Last week saw crowds flock to the region’s first Shake Shack restaurant nearby adding to Liberty Way’s destination appeal.
Writer Michael D. Clark contributed to this report.
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