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The Mountain Home City Council has cleared the way for a Casey’s convenience store and gas station at the entrance to McCabe Park, a decision that drew some unease from residents who question a fuel stop at the doorstep of the city’s park and recreation area.
The council voted July 16 to rezone the corner at Highway 62/412 and McCabe Park Trail from Commercial C-3 to Commercial C-2C. Members approved the change unanimously and attached an emergency clause, which lets the buyer close on the property and begin construction right away. The petition came from Casey’s and the Stahl Family Trust.
The Planning Commission recommended the rezoning earlier, after a public hearing that was advertised in the Baxter Bulletin. No one spoke against it at that hearing, according to the ordinance and city officials.
Still, not everyone was comfortable. Council member Bob Van Haaren said he had taken two calls from residents about the project, though he considered the concerns minor. “I feel they’re superficial calls, but I wouldn’t feel right not addressing them,” he said.
The location was the issue, Van Haaren said. A Casey’s “right off the front of the main drive leading to the park, leading to the center, just seemed kind of shocking to the folks that had reached out to me,” he said. He told the residents the land was private and could have become almost anything, adding, “it could have been a million different things.”
Traffic drew discussion as well. Planning Director Arnold Knox said it had come up at the Planning Commission hearing, but noted the highway is outside city control. “The traffic on that highway is controlled by the highway department,” Knox said.
Knox said the city has long wanted a signal there. “We’ve been hopeful ever since the community center opened that we’ll eventually have a traffic signal out that direction,” he said. Because the corner sits on U.S. Highway 62/412, a state route, any signal would be the Arkansas Department of Transportation’s decision.
Mayor Hillrey Adams said the store would draw on drivers already passing by. “They’re not a traffic generator. They capture traffic,” Adams said. “People don’t drive from here out there to go to a Casey’s … so their theory is capture traffic, not generate traffic.”
Knox and Van Haaren added that the company is deliberate about its locations, saying Casey’s knows “the traffic counts and the dollar amounts running around town better than probably anybody.”
McCabe Park grew out of a land donation of roughly 42 acres in 2015. It now includes stocked fishing ponds and walking and biking trails tied into the Arkansas State University-Mountain Home system, along with other city recreation projects.
Adams said he mentioned to a Casey’s representative that the community center has a cafe. “He said, ‘Hey, you just kind of hurt my pizza sales a little bit,'” Adams said, adding that the representative expected Casey’s to be “a good neighbor.”
The rezoning settles the land-use question and lets construction move forward. The size of the store, its layout and an opening date were not detailed at the meeting.
