Board approves variances for convenience‑store redevelopment despite tree preservation concerns

The Wilmington Board of Adjustment voted to grant two variances for a convenience‑store and fuel redevelopment at 4945 University Drive and 524 South College Road on May 28, approving removal of a specimen tree and a reduced setback for a pickup window with conditions.

Staff told the board the properties are zoned office and institutional and the site includes a vacated retail building. The applicant sought relief from two provisions of the land development code: section 18‑316 (specimen tree preservation) to remove a 32‑inch longleaf pine that sits within a 35‑foot‑wide access easement, and section 18‑205 (drive‑through setback) to allow a 138‑foot setback for a pickup‑only “fly‑through” window rather than the 200‑foot minimum from a residential district.

The applicant’s attorney, Sam Frank, said the easement’s narrow width and the tree’s large critical root zone make the parcel unusable for its intended access function and that adjacent landowners refused alternative easements. Frank also described the proposed reuse as a Wawa convenience store with fuel sales and said the developer positioned the pickup window as far from the residential zone as feasible while proposing a 10‑foot buffer, a six‑foot privacy fence and an 8‑foot tree/shrub screen.

Everett Jones, the applicant’s arborist from Bartlett Tree Experts, testified that excavation and grading into the tree’s structural critical root zone would likely damage key roots and could compromise the tree’s stability: “I would not recommend that we breach that portion of the structural critical root zone,” he said, explaining that only methods that effectively bridge roots would preserve viability.

Board members weighed the arborist’s assessment against traffic‑safety and access concerns. Staff noted a traffic analysis indicating about 40 percent of weekday AM peak trips would use the University Drive access, and recommended conditions should the board grant variances, including that dumpsters not be located between any building or canopy and College Road and that tree mitigation follow the land development code.

A board member moved to approve both variance requests with the staff‑recommended condition on dumpster placement and standard mitigation requirements; a second was recorded. One board member opposed the motion. The motion passed 4–1.

What happens next: the approvals are conditioned on the mitigation and site plan clarifications noted in the staff report and will require additional technical review (PTRC) and compliance checks as the applicant finalizes building plans.