Stewart’s Shops is looking to set down its stakes in Baldwinsville.
The eastern New York-based convenience store chain known for its ice cream, which opened its first Syracuse-area shop on Morgan Road in the town of Clay in October 2014, is in talks with the village’s planning board to build a 3,975-square-foot shop at 120 Oswego St. If all goes well, the store and gas station will be open this fall.
Currently, Big Mama’s Country Deli and Kitchen and a vacant car wash occupy the site. Big Mama’s is planning to move to a location yet to be determined, and the existing building will be torn down.
Chuck Marshall, a real estate agent representing Stewart’s, presented a site plan to the planning board May 26. The plan includes the shop itself, eight self-serve gas pumps and an outdoor patio dining area.
Planning Board Chair Carl Pelcher expressed concern that patrons would have to walk across the parking lot to access the patio, but Marshall said there was no better place to put it because of the delivery area behind the proposed building.
Planning board member Joe Saraceni suggested the gas pumps be moved to the rear of the property to accommodate the patio, but Marshall said the state Department of Transportation wanted to keep the pumps in front.
Stewart’s is also in the process of redesigning its signage per the village zoning board of appeals’ parameters.
The ZBA deemed Stewart’s standard monument sign too large as compared to other signs in the village, and planning board members cited visibility concerns for drivers on Route 48.
Village officials are also concerned about increased traffic to the area. Marshall said the Baldwinsville location would probably handle about half as much traffic as a typical Stewart’s location.
At the June 4 village board of trustees meeting, Marshall said supply and gas trucks could move through Route 631 to avoid increasing congestion in the village corridor.
The village planning board next meets at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 23.
