Parker’s Kitchen and the near absence of public safety and security reviews in the planning process.
by Don Moniak
June 11, 2023
Gas stations and convenience stores are common scenes of criminal acts. Some are planned, like robberies, shoplifting, and small time grifting like quick-change artists. More are impulsive, such as assaults, robberies of individuals, and car burglaries. The risks are highest for employees, most of the incidents occur at night and early morning, and nearby neighborhoods can provide escape routes.
These risk factors seldom enter the public debate over new gas station and convenient store developments, nor any other developments. The proposed Parker’s Kitchen at Stratford and Whiskey Road is no exception.
The Proposed Parker’s Kitchen at Stratford and Whiskey.
Parker’s Kitchen applied to the City of Aiken to build a 5,175 square foot, 24-hour gas station/convenience store/restaurant with eight gas station pump islands fronting Whiskey Road. The proposal has met with strong resistance from neighbors.
The public debate features many legitimate issues, including increased traffic at an unsafe intersection, single road access to large neighborhoods, property values, the risk of major accidents, chemical exposures, and the zoning ordinance itself. As a result, the approval process has stalled.
One overlooked risk factor for nearby residents, workers, and customers is crime. Two facets are armed robberies and lower level crimes.
Armed Robberies
Gas stations are a common target for unsophisticated thieves and robbers. The number of armed robberies involving gas stations in the Aiken area include large, 24-hour establishments like the Circle K at Exit 22, Enmark on Hwy 78, and the new Sprint Station at Laurens and Rutland (1) .
These armed robberies sometimes end in assaults, shootings and murders. Low wage employees in chain stores are taught the proper policy of nonresistance, but are still at extreme risk of harm.
Robbers often escape on foot, sometimes into nearby neighborhoods where there are sheds, crawl spaces, woods, and other places to hide.
For a short period in the early to mid 2000’s, the Breaker’s Station at Six Points (below) was robbed two to three times per year. (3) On at least two occasions law enforcement converged on neighborhoods within 500 feet. In one instance it was a resident who alerted the police to a man hiding in his shed.
The instances of robbery and the threat to nearby residences greatly subsided after the owners began to close earlier and cleared the area behind the store. Better cameras were added, but cameras mainly help catch unsophisticated robbers, but do not necessarily deter them.
Lower Level Crime.
Almost all gas stations have convenient stores which generate the greatest share of profits. Convenient stores can be described as “Vice Stores,” since their primary inventory is alcohol, tobacco, sugary, salt, and caffeinated food, and Lotto. Some openly sell drug paraphanelia.
The effect is that ‘Vice Store’ establishments do attract people with personal problems ranging from substance abuse and gambling addiction. These are known factors that can lead to crime.
Another variable is that everyone who drives needs to refuel, including people with bad intentions. The nearer the neighborhood, the more likely it is to be targeted by someone with criminal intent and little sophistication.
Smaller robberies and assaults at gas stations used to be commonly reported in the days of “police blotters” (3) and occasionally are reported when more serious crime happens—-such as a shooting or the recent assault resulting from an argument over a squat-style truck.
Public Safety Reviews of New Developments.
All development applications go through planning departments.
The City of Aiken’s planning department has a process whereby each department is charged with reviewing the application and providing feedback.
An example of such a review (below) involved the Sundy Street apartments proposal in North Aiken.
Public Safety registered no concerns. But enough public safety concerns were raised by neighbors during the Planning Commission’s (PC) hearing that the developer offered to build a fence around the new apartments, (4), and the PC added it as a condition of approval.
In response to a Freedom of Information Request (5) for engineering and public safety reviews for Parker’s Kitchen, a thorough memo from engineering was provided, but there was no review by public safety in the FOIA response.
The basic fact is, gas stations/convenient stores experience robberies and other lower level crimes. An review of these risk factors should be part of any planning review process. For Parker’s Kitchen, the City of Aiken has provided no evidence of a review.
This 24-hour Sprint Station was robbed on 1/1/2021.
Footnotes
(1) A short list of gas station/convenient store robberies in recent years.
6/11/19; 678 Pine Log Road, Circle K; 4:55 a.m
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/police-asking-for-help-identifying-suspect-in-armed-robbery-at-aiken-gas-station/article_db1d0ce3-1935-59c5-bbb3-fb62b200fe37.html
6/6/20 Enmark on Charleston Highway, 4 a.m
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/suspect-wanted-for-early-morning-robbery-of-aiken-gas-station/article_25b74a67-c951-53cc-b60a-c88ee1aeea22.html
1/1/2021, Sprint Gas Station, Laurens Street,
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/crime/aiken-man-charged-in-armed-robbery-on-laurens-street/article_1d86b85c-0b3a-11ec-a759-4f58aed5d9f5.html
1/31/2020. Circle K. 2645 Columbia Highway, 2:25 a.m.
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/police-investigating-two-robberies-in-aiken-county/article_ba41ff47-d14f-5ca2-8dfd-ccde7a727c44.html
1/14/2019 Unnamed convenience store, Wagener, SC 9:13 a.m
https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/deputies-seeking-wagener-armed-robbery-suspect/article_f6003810-0c11-5b9c-84ab-0a279d2a2fa6.html
4/18/2022. El Cheapo, North Augusta, 5 p.m.
Page one results for a specific search on WFXG-FOX Augusta for ‘Gas Station Robberies’
(2) Don Moniak resided near Six Points for over a decade. His neighbor reported the man in the shed to police.
(3)Entry from September 5, 2018 police blotter in the Aiken Standard;
“Man called police from a gas station on Richland Avenue on Saturday claiming someone who goes by the name “Cory” assaulted him and robbed him. Officers reported the man was grossly intoxicated.”
This is just one example of dozens.
(4) After the developer agreed to build a fence, neighbor Gail Diggs called from the audience, ‘we want an 8-Foot fence.’ Ms. Diggs is a City Councilwoman who recused herself from the process, and helped fellow neighbors who had never spoken at a public hearing approach the podium to raise their concerns.
(5) FOIA Request #50-2023 was for;
1. Copies of any and all departmental reviews, including but not limited to Public Safety, Engineering and Utilities, and Public Works/Services, for all applications—-excluding annexations of single parcels—submitted to the Aiken Planning Department between December 1, 2022 and present. These reviews were cited by Planning Director Marya Moultrie during the February 14, 2023 Planning Commission meeting: “…engineering Public Safety Traffic Engineers we have to vet these against our own zoning ordinances.” Ms. Moultrie also described the existence of a public safety review of the Sundy Street apartments application, and stated “they had no concerns,” during the PC’s work session held prior to the meeting. 2. A copy of all traffic studies completed by city contractors or submitted by developers since September 1, 2022.”
After a fee determination of $138 for recent records, the request was modified to include only public safety and engineering reviews for two active applications; Parker’s Kitchen and Sundy Street Apartments.
Below is the only response for Parker’s Kitchen, a memo from Engineering detailing a number of requirements. This resulted from a developers meeting in October 2022, two month before the application was submitted. The memo is not part of the official City Council record.
