A new tobacco and vape shop is moving forward in Warrenton after narrowly receiving approval at the Jan. 21 board of aldermen meeting in a 4-3 vote.
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A new tobacco and vape shop is moving forward in Warrenton after narrowly receiving approval at the Jan. 21 board of aldermen meeting in a 4-3 vote. Aldermen and President of the Board Jack Crump had to cast a tie-breaking vote in Mayor Eric Schlueter’s absence.
Aldermen Larry Corder, Roger Romaker and Brandon Lang voted against the site plan while Aldermen Crump, Steven Cullom and Scott Schulze voted for its approval. As president of the board Krump cast the tie-breaking vote.
The vote came despite a negative recommendation from the planning and zoning commission due to issues with the lease, although Planning and Development Director Tim Burks said those issues were resolved shortly before the meeting.
Bart Korman, an engineer on the project, was present at the meeting and provided some clarity on the lease issues saying they had been resolved earlier that day.
According to Korman, the confusion surfaced due to a clause in Warrenton Oil’s lease requiring them to notify the property owners of any planned subleases and receive their subsequent approval. They had not fulfilled that requirement when the site plan received a negative recommendation from Warrenton P&Z.
Since then Warrenton Oil and the sublessee rectified those issues with the property owner and turned in their approval to the city the day of the meeting.
The property sits in a revocable trust operated by the Hartnagel family with an address listed in St. Charles, while the sublessee and site plan applicant is listed as Gamal Shaeri, a resident of Hoover, Ala.
The new store would occupy the currently vacant Mobile Gas Station, which sits at the west corner of Highway 47 and the north outer road on Interstate 70.
Korman provided some insight on what the new store would look like.
“It’s going to be basically a convenience store without gas and liquor,” said Korman. “But focused on tobacco, vapor and other items because it’s Warrenton Tobacco and Vapor Plus.”
He continued emphasizing that they would be bringing a new business to Warrenton in an otherwise vacant location.
“They did work out the lease situation with an agreement that says they can agree to sublease, and we got that done today,” said Korman. “So hopefully there’s no other concerns there but we have adequate parking and we’re ready to have retail back in that store.”
Korman said he was under the impression that all the equipment related to gasoline sales had been removed when the gas station was closed over a year ago and the only necessary renovations were going to take place inside the building.
He said he expected the remodel to start in the next couple months with the store opening some time in spring or summer.