Fairfax Chevron Foes Ready for Town Council Battle

Opponents of a proposed Chevron Station are gearing up for Round 2 of a Town Council hearing that began in December with a marathon meeting that lasted more than five hours.

The hearing will be held during tonight's 7 p.m. Town Council meeting at the Fairfax Women's Club (46 Park Road, Fairfax).

A proposed Chevron station and Extra MIle convenience store that would fill a vacant lot on 2001 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard (between Claus Drive and Azalea Avenue) already has the blessings of blessings of city planners, who in September issued a report recommending its passage.

Ron Jacobs of PM Design Group applied for a conditional use permit on behalf of the owner is Arash Salkhi to refurbish a Fairfax Gas station that operated out of that location until about two years ago.

But opponents of the proposal say that the two locally owned gas stations Fairfax already has are enough, and that approving a Chevron station would be inconsistent with a General Plan that calls for making the downtown area more pedestrian and bicycle friendly and preserving Fairfax's small-town charm.

"It just doesn't fit with Fairfax, especially downtown," said Jennifer Hammond of No Chevron in Fairfax, a group that's already gathered more than 700 signatures of those opposed to the proposal.

The Council is unlikely to resolve the controversy anytime soon, Fairfax Mayor David Weinsoff told Patch shortly after the Dec. 4 meeting.

"I would suspect that the next meeting would not close the door," Weinsoff said.

"There's a lot of data that we anticipate coming back at us in January and I think that there may have to be some more consideration and some more conversations."

The deliberative process doesn't bother Hammond.

"We're OK with the length of the process," she said. "No matter how much time they need we want the right decision to be made."

Hammond said she hasn't been able to discern which way the Council is leaning, noting that the proposal "could go either way" at this point.

And she insists her group hasn't lost enthusiasm for what could be a protracted fight.

"I think the momentum is still there," she said.

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