A green gas station? Maybe this will move more to replicate this design

Thanks to Bart, I am posting this to maybe suggest we aim to have other gas stations become havens not open lots. The original gas station looked like this.

Adding bushes and the extended area for even more cars will make it far more attractive. More information follows.

The new owner of the convenience store at Tulane and Broad can install fuel pumps after getting City Council approval on Thursday (Aug. 19). But that’s not all that is planned for the expanse of concrete across Tulane Avenue from the Criminal Court. Trees and shrubs will be planted to soften the streetscape, separate the pedestrians from the cars, buffer noises and reduce stormwater runoff, according to City Planning Commission documents. Under provisos added by the City Council, owner Kundan and Venna Louisiana LLC, operated by Puneet K. Gupta, is also required to use sustainable design, such as a “green” roof on the canopy over the fuel island, and will install at least one charging station for electric cars. “Some neighbors were concerned about the proliferation of gas stations throughout Mid-City,” District B Councilman Jay H. Banks told the council, “especially when so much green infrastructure is needed.”

midcitymessenger.com

The pumps have been torn out so this will not be the first station here and so some rules apply.

It will not be the first gas station on the site. The pumps have long been torn out, however, so conditional use approval is required before new fuel pumps are installed. In addition to its mixed-use zoning, the Big Easy Food Mart (formerly Quicky’s) convenience store and planned gas station are in a Historic Urban Corridor Use Restriction Overlay District and an Enhancement Corridor Design Overlay District. The same overlays apply to the planned Chick-fil-A on Tulane and South Carrollton Avenue, where landscaping is also required. The Planning Commission added 10 provisos to its approval of the gas station to assure compliance with zoning requirements, such as reducing its current four curb cuts to two — one on Tulane Avenue and one on Baudin Street. The developer also has to submit its plan to keep litter in check. The City Council added another six proviso, including a proviso requiring sustainable design that also incorporates future protection: “The applicant shall commit to the use of sustainable design and architecture, such as the use and/or incorporation of green roofs, water cistern systems, blue roofs, bio-swales, solar panels, wind turbines, and other energy efficient design concepts, new building technologies, and structures that meet the standards of recognized green building certification.”

The City Council is happy with the design as it incorporated their requirements making it a “green” gas station.

The council passed the measure unanimously. “We think that this is a good thing in terms of beautifying the area, which is not as pretty as it could be,” Banks said. “But it also is getting to the point where we need to be in heading toward a carbon-free environment.”

I have often wondered why gas stations don’t have many shrubs and trees to make them look better and be better for the environment. The green features in this design are things that should be incorporated in new designs and when existing stations are modernized. We should contact our city council member thanking them for this design and suggesting they use it in the future.