St. Cloud Car Dealership Advances Expansion Plans Despite Resident Opposition

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud car dealership looking to expand has cleared its first hurdle despite opposition from neighbors.

The St. Cloud Planning Commission voted 3-2 to allow land recently purchased by Gilleland Chevrolet to be rezoned from residential to commercial.

The dealership has purchased two single-family homes on 31st Avenue North and plans to bulldoze them. That would create the needed space to expand its parking lot to fit more cars and allow it to replace the old Quick Lube building with a new mechanic shop. The design calls for St. Cloud to vacate a nearby alley.

Nearby resident Missy Novak expressed her displeasure at the request saying, “If they vacate the alley, we won’t have access to my street. We won’t have the assurance that my backyard isn’t going to flood every winter. They may tear down 80 feet of very, very mature lilacs and shrubs. That disturbs me greatly.”

Zack Jasmer also lives in the neighborhood and is concerned about traffic and employee parking. “They park up and down our streets. They frequently block 31st Street entirely with semis or their cars, customer cars, all kinds of drop-offs and things like that.”

Neighbors were also concerned about the noise from car alarms, which they say are constantly going off. Residents also question allowing two homes to be leveled at a time when the city is struggling with a lack of single-family homes and affordable housing.

Gilleland Chevrolet Vice President Grant Gilleland spoke at the meeting and told KNSI News the project will move a lot of the traffic from the neighborhood to on-site. “The current alley, that’s going to be vacated, we can now use that to get to the other side of our building instead of driving around the entire block. So this makes [the] flow go a little less in the neighborhood.”

Gilleland says he’s asked his workers not to park along 31st Street but isn’t going to punish anyone who is parking legally. “I’m not going to fire someone because they parked on the street. I mean, that’s not our goal here. We have ample parking for them. And I did look today, and I didn’t see any parked on the street. So maybe I’m finally getting through to them.”

The rezoning recommendation and permission to vacate the ally will be in front of the St. Cloud City Council next month. The council will hold a public hearing on April 8th before making a final decision. The city’s long-term plans call for the area to eventually be zoned commercial.

No property owners will be assessed for the work. Gilleland is paying for the entire project.

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