It took two meetings and a good bit of back-and-forth, but a convenience store with gas pumps is coming to Lovers Lane on a site between Lovers Lane Apartments and the BG Tire business.

A development plan for the 2.06-acre parcel presented by AM Express developer Bipin Patel and partners Mrinal Mullick, Kamal Singh and Aman Patel won approval April 19 from the Warren County Urban Growth Design Review Board, but only by a 3-2 vote that came after lengthy discussions about the pros and cons of bringing a second fueling station to the Lovers Lane Overlay District.

In a hearing that began at the March 15 Design Review Board meeting only to be continued, the developers and their representatives argued that the convenience store was a good fit in a Lovers Lane corridor that is already home to a Crossroads IGA store with gas pumps.

Some Design Review Board members, most notably chairman David Sowders, countered with arguments that the development should either be denied or altered to make it more palatable along a corridor that has seen rapid growth of high-end residential properties in The Hub and Traditions developments and a burgeoning health care presence.

“I feel like we need to hold this area to a higher standard than any other area in Warren County,” Sowders said in explaining his vote against the project.

Sowders was joined by Greg Seaton in voting against the development, but “yes” votes cast by Russell Brown, John Simms and John Williams were enough to approve it.

In the end, concessions made by the developers and presented by attorney Chris Davenport may have swayed enough votes to approve a development that seemed ready to be defeated in March.

The heart of the proposed development that is only about 300 yards from Scottsville Road is a single building with a 3,500-square-foot store called Lovers Lane One Stop sandwiched between two other retail spaces of about 2,200 square feet each.

That configuration, similar to the AM Express on Three Springs Road, wasn’t altered from March to April, but Davenport presented other changes designed to make the project more compatible with other Lovers Lane developments.

Davenport said his clients agreed to reduce the number of gas pumps from five to four, lower the fuel canopy height from 24 feet to 18.5 feet and include a berm and landscaping to obscure the view of the gas pumps.

Despite those concessions and a canopy structure that Davenport said was “as nice as any you could suggest”, Sowders reiterated his stance from the March meeting that the canopy should be in the back of the building and not visible at all from Lovers Lane.

“We prefer that the fuel canopy be in the rear of the building,” Sowders said. “There was a great deal of discussion about that. We’d like to not see that (canopy) in front of the building.”

Davenport countered that moving the fuel pumps to the back of the building would hinder tractor-trailer access and create accessibility problems for other motorists.

“I’m told that (canopy in the front) is a necessity,” Davenport said. “It’s not a point of debate for my client.”

Despite the pushback from some Design Review Board members, a local Realtor who lives in the Traditions development along Lovers Lane came to the March meeting to encourage passage of the convenience store plan.

“It will be an extra option for picking up milk or bread or getting gas,” said Melissa Grimes. “I know I speak for many of my neighbors when I say we’re all thrilled about it. It’s needed in that area.”