MEDFORD, Ore.– Signs of protest popped up over the weekend all over an East Medford neighborhood. The signs are calling for a boycott of a Circle K convenience store and gas station.
Residents are angry because the proposed land is in a residential area. The proposal has been approved by Medford City Council but it’s still unknown when groundbreaking will begin.
Regardless though, with these signs, residents are making it known they don’t want it in their neighborhood.
“If it was in my means, I would go right up to their front door and pound on it and tell them to stop,” said Judy Farnsworth, a resident who lives right across the street from the area where the proposed building would go.
In several words – unsightly, hazardous, just plain unnecessary – residents making their opinions clear both vocally and physically.
“It’s just not conducive to the quality of life that people are living here,” said Jim Hawes, a resident of the area who posted on of the boycott signs in his front yard.
The controversy surrounds a proposal recently approved that would hold a gas station, car wash, coffee kiosk and convenience store at the corner of East McAndrews and Springbrook Road. The problem for many, it’s in a residential area.
“It was just not compatible with the surroundings,” said Gary Sumrak, a resident and one of the organizers of the group opposed to this building. He says residents see this as the wrong location for commercial buildings.
“Nobody really has much against Circle K, they just wish it would move to a more suitable location,” he said.
What’s even more shocking to some residents though is that just down the road, the city approved in September nearly the exact same proposal near a 7-11 on Crater Lake Avenue. It would include everything except a car wash.
“Three of the four things that were supposed to be on our corner up here are going to be less than a mile away now,” said Sumrak.
While the city approved the proposal for Circle K, it was initially denied by Medford’s site plan and architectural commission. The city is still waiting on building permits and the real estate company selling the land says the land hasn’t even been purchased by the Circle K franchise.
“The community here are getting pretty frustrated,” said Sumrak. He says many people just want a decision to be made rather than being left in this limbo. Either way though, these residents say they’ll continue their boycott, without any plans of backing down.
NBC5 News reached out to the GP Energy, formerly known as Colvin Oil Company from Grants Pass. It is the company looking to build the Circle K. We did not receive a callback.
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