HOW TO GO
WHAT: Kroger is seeking approval for zoning variances to build a new Marketplace grocery store at the southeast corner of Ohio 4 and Kyles Station Road. The public can provide input at an upcoming Board of Zoning Appeals meeting.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Jan. 13
WHERE: Liberty Twp. Administration building, 6400 Princeton Road
MORE INFO: Contact the township at 513-759-7500
The Kroger Co. plans to build a new Marketplace location and adjacent fuel center along one of Butler County’s most traveled roads.
The grocer submitted plans to Liberty Twp. this week for a 133,868-square-foot location at the southeast corner of Ohio 4 and Kyles Station Road. If plans move forward to build the new store, it would replace an existing site one mile away on Ohio 4 at 5420 Liberty-Fairfield Road.
Kroger has obtained an option to purchase the site, which is now vacant and already zoned for business, according to Bryan Behrmann, the township’s director of planning and zoning. The Marketplace store would anchor a larger retail center to be completed by developer Oberer Companies.
The grocery store would feature two pharmacy pick-up windows and two drive-through locations for a bank, which will be located along the south side of the building, according to a description of the project submitted by McBride Dale Clarion on behalf of the retail giant.
Kroger's new online shopping concept — currently being tested at another Liberty Twp. Kroger store on Yankee Road — will be available for customer pick-up on the north side of the building with a notification point and receiving area.
The grocery store would be served by 575 parking spaces with two points of access along Kyles Station Road and a right-turn-in, right-turn-out lanes along Ohio 4.
“They’ve always been a first-class tenant in Liberty Twp. and I’m very happy they’re continuing to invest,” said township Trustee Tom Farrell.
“I worked 10 years in zoning and we have some of the best buffering rules in the state,” Farrell said. “I’m very confident in our ability as a township to have commercial abut residential with protections.”
Plans for the new store are expected to go before the Liberty Twp. Board of Zoning Appeals at its Jan. 13 meeting for approval of seven variances, as well as a conditional use to allow the proposed Marketplace and adjacent fuel center to operate 24 hours a day. Property owners near the site will be notified of the meeting 10 days in advance, Behrmann said.
Kroger contends the property will work because the store would be 70 feet from a residential property line to the east and within that 70 feet is a 50-foot-wide buffer that will include a 6-foot-high berm with an 8-foot-tall fence on top. Both sides of the berm are to be landscaped with a variety of plant material.
The fuel center will be located along five-lane Ohio 4 and more than 180 feet from the residential property line to the north.
Kroger and its design firm also note the front of the store will face away from residential use, with no added noise level created that would affect residential property to the east.
“The grocery store use is allowed there, however, some of the things they’re looking to do on the site such as the 24 hours operation is restricted,” Behrmann said.
Meanwhile, a different developer seeking to bring one of Ohio's largest Kroger Marketplace locations to neighboring West Chester Twp. is in the midst of a lawsuit against that township because of a trustee vote that effectively stopped development of the 36-acre project at Ohio 747 and Tylersville Road.
The lawsuit filed earlier this year in Butler County Common Pleas court by Blue Ash-based Silverman and Co. alleges West Chester Twp. trustees overstepped their bounds by denying their zoning request for both phases of the project.
Kroger spokeswoman Rachael Betzler previously told Journal-News that the grocer was planning multi-million investments next year across the company's Cincinnati/Dayton Division, including three new store openings.
Plans to open a new Kroger Marketplace in the greater Cincinnati neighborhood of Oakley are finalized, with construction expected to start shortly, Betzler said in November. Kroger is also planning new store openings next year in Troy and Corryville.
Additionally, major remodeling projects are being eyed at existing Kroger stores in Woodlawn and Lemon, Sugarcreek, and Anderson townships. The Woodlawn, Lemon Twp. and Sugarcreek Twp. stores will be updated with new decor and equipment, Betzler said. The Anderson Twp. location will involve more extensive renovations
Altogether, spending on new store construction, remodels of existing stores and fuel center builds is expected to reach a total $107 million in 2015, Betzler said.
Presently, Kroger operates 109 stores in the Cincinnati/Dayton Division employing more than 20,000 people, according to the Fortune 500 company.
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