Gas Station and Group Home Pause Looks To Get Extended
Vol. III, No. 314 - Two moratoriums set to expire in May may get extended for three more months.
This newsletter has been tracking Troy’s gas stations for nearly two years. What started as a basic question in July 2024 — Do We Have Too Many Gas Stations? — turned into a moratorium in early 2026. Now that moratorium is about to expire and city staff wants to extend it another 90 days. Troy City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee takes up that request Monday at 6:00 p.m.
To understand what Monday’s meeting is really about, it helps to know how we got here.
For years, the community has raised a concern over the number of gas stations in the community. Some research completed by this publication a couple of years ago showed that Troy had somewhere between 17 and 20 gas stations for a city of 26,000 people. Standard planning guidelines suggest 6 to 10. The gap between those numbers isn’t trivial. Too many gas stations on key corridors crowds out other uses, generates more pavement and stormwater runoff, and leaves behind difficult properties if the market shifts. Council approved a moratorium last year.
The moratorium — set to expire May 30, 2026 — stops the city from accepting new zoning applications or issuing permits for automobile fuel dispensing stations and automobile service stations. It was put in place specifically to buy time while the city finishes its new Unified Development Code, a full rewrite of Troy’s zoning rules, subdivision regulations and sign code, all rolled into one document. The city hired American Structurepoint, to lead that work, and a draft has been completed. But the review process — staff, the law director, the Planning Commission, and a public hearing before Council — cannot realistically be done by the end of May.
So the Director of Public Service and Safety is recommending a 90-day extension.
A second moratorium runs on a parallel track. Since September 2025, Troy has also paused new applications for Community-Oriented Residential Social Service Facilities — group homes, transitional housing, and similar uses — also tied to the UDC update, and also expiring May 30. Staff wants both extended together so the new code can address both issues at the same time.
The extension request is procedurally reasonable. The code isn’t finished. The review takes time. The moratoriums need to hold. But reasonable doesn’t mean automatic. A 90-day extension should come with a clear timeline and defined milestones — not just a new calendar date that could be pushed again. When can the public expect to see the new Uniform Development Code?
That question is worth raising Monday night.
When it is finally adopted, the code will be the most consequential planning document Troy has produced in a generation. It will determine what gets built, where it gets built, and what it looks like. The rules it sets around gas stations and fuel dispensing facilities will either address the saturation problem that residents flagged — or quietly leave the door open for more of the same.
The public hearing Council is required to hold before adopting the new code is the moment residents have the most direct say in shaping what Troy looks like for the next 20 years. That moment hasn’t arrived yet. But it will be here, soon.
The Economic and Community Development Committee meets Monday, April 13 at 6:00 p.m. at Troy City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
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