City Council members approved a final plat for the convenience store on the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 24-40 and South Park Drive.

The measure passed, 3-0, at Monday’s regular meeting, with Jennifer McCutchen and Chris Donnelly absent. The council approved the planning commission’s recommendation to approve the plat.

Monday’s approval means Tonganoxie will have a second location. The current store at 500 West St. opened in October 2019. The company initially had a store at 103 W. Fourth St. (now Tonganoxie Eye Care) a block north of the current space. The company then built a larger store a block north of there at 220 West St. (now Ellie B’s Event Space) before opening the current store.

City Manager George Brajkovic said a planning commissioner had inquired during the planning commission review about why the company would open a second location in Tonganoxie. Brajkovic noted that the most recent traffic studies show some 7,000 vehicles pass by the current location on the south side of Tonganoxie and the 13,000 per day at U.S. 24-40 and South Park Drive where the new structure is planned. That’s a 45% increase in traffic count from 2022, according to Brajkovic.

Jeff Laubach with SBB Engineering spoke on behalf of Casey’s at Monday’s meeting.

He noted that the current Tonganoxie Casey’s has seven stations or 14 fuel pumps in front of the store, while the new locale is expected to have five stations or 10 fuel pumps.

The new space also is supposed to have 10 more feet between the pumps and the storefront. Laubach said the current Casey’s is comparable to the one in Lawrence at Sixth and Wisconsin streets. The new store will be comparable to the one at near Kansas Highway 10 and Bob Billings Parkway in Lawrence.

The new store also will have features to limit light pollution, such as LED lighting and a 6-foot fence to the south to assist with noise reduction for the adjacent neighborhood.