A QuikTrip gas station with diesel fuel spots for trucks is set to be built on Eola Road near Interstate 88 after plans were approved recently by the Aurora City Council.
The gas station will be located on the southeast corner of Eola Road and Diehl Road, which is across the street from the CyrusOne data center and a short ways away from Metea Valley High School. It is expected to hold 16 gas fueling spots and four diesel fueling spots, two of which can accommodate tractor trailers.
Those two tractor-trailer-ready diesel fueling stations make this gas station count as a truck stop under Aurora city ordinances, but the facility isn’t planned to have any of the typical amenities of a truck stop like showers or even places to park tractor trailers. Plus, overnight parking would be banned.
The gas station is instead designed for quick trips, as the name suggests, according to a company representative who presented the gas station’s proposal to an Aurora City Council committee earlier this month.
In addition to items typically available at a convenience store, including beer and wine, made-to-order food items like sandwiches and tacos would also be available for grab-and-go purchases. In-house secret shoppers for alcohol, cigarettes and vapes are expected to make sure the store is held to QuikTrip’s standards, the representative previously said.
The site is expected to have a number of different entrances, including a full access entrance on Diehl Road, a right-in and right-out entrance also on Diehl Road but close to its intersection with Eola Road and a right-in-only entrance on Eola Road.
City staff have previously said in a report that they believe the location is “highly favorable” for this use since it is positioned along major streets and is in a predominantly non-residential area. Both the company representative and city staff have previously said this new gas station is not expected to increase traffic.
But at least one resident had concerns about traffic and more, which she voiced during the Aurora City Council meeting on April 22. Laura Evans’ other concerns included noise pollution due to trucks using their compression brakes in an area where noise was already an issue because of the nearby data center and safety for the nearby high school and Prairie Path trail, among others.
Evans suggested removing the diesel fuel lines for tractor trailers from the QuikTrip’s plan or that the city should offer nearby residents abatements if issues do come up. Neither were incorporated into the final approval by the Aurora City Council.
Ald. Shweta Baid, 10th Ward, said at the April 22 meeting that she recently met with many of the nearby residents to hear their concerns about the QuikTrip proposal and other things.
Baid, who represents the area where the gas station will go, took time to answer many of those concerns at the meeting, including saying that, if compression breaking becomes an issue, the city can install signs to prohibit it.
Plans for the gas station previously went before the Aurora City Council earlier this month, but aldermen pushed it back by two weeks. At the time, Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, asked the vote be delayed so that he and other aldermen could further review the gas station for planning purposes.
The gas station’s proposal went before the Aurora City Council again on April 22, and this time it was unanimously approved after some minor changes were made. Those changes ensured that QuikTrip would not advertise on I-88 and that final site plans would include landscaping or medians that prevent tractor trailers from parking in regular vehicle parking spots.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
