The Rome City Commission has given the green light to new regulations governing gas stations and convenience stores.
City officials had paused approval of new permits late last year while they worked to establish clearer development standards.
Rome–Floyd County Planning Director Brice Wood outlined several of the key requirements. Under the new rules, gas stations must be located along arterial roads with direct access. An exception is allowed for locations within large multi-tenant shopping centers of at least 100,000 square feet. Additional spacing rules require a minimum distance of 600 feet from schools, daycare facilities, churches or other places of worship, drug and alcohol treatment centers, public parks, and eco-greenway trails. Similar to the roadway rule, these distance limits may be waived for developments inside planned multi-unit shopping centers.
The regulations also mandate at least 1,000 feet between gas stations, measured from property line to property line, and require a 300-foot buffer from single-family homes or land zoned for residential use. Gas stations will not be permitted in the city’s historic district, which largely predates widespread automobile use. Further restrictions prohibit stations within 500 feet of rivers, inside the 100-year floodplain, or within 500 linear feet of a government-operated well.
During the meeting, Attorney Fisher Law, representing several gas station and convenience store owners and developers, requested a transition period between the lifting of the moratorium and the enforcement of the new standards. He argued that developers who had already purchased property and begun planning projects could suffer significant financial losses.
He noted that for those who had invested in land already zoned for commercial or light industrial use, the sudden rule change could effectively halt projects with little opportunity for recourse.
Despite the concerns raised, the City Commission voted to adopt the new regulations without modification.
