By admin 
Neighborhood leaders who are fighting a planned 16-pump Murphy USA gas station and convenience store at North Main Street and Sunset Drive will get their day in court this summer.
Read more It’s happening: Columbia is getting a Culver’s restaurant. Check out where
Richland County circuit court judge Milton G. Kimpson is set to hear arguments July 24 in a lawsuit challenging the Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals decision to grant a special exception for the project.
Nearby residents have repeatedly pushed back against the gas station plans, saying the project doesn’t meet long-held goals to see the corridor become more community-oriented, walkable and vibrant.
The city’s zoning board approved the Murphy USA project in February.
Neighborhood associations in Hyatt Park/Keenan Terrace, Earlewood and Cottontown, as well as several residents, have sued the city, asking a judge to reverse the zoning board’s decision, saying the board didn’t follow its own rules in granting the approval.
If Kimpson finds for the neighborhoods, he could order the zoning board to reverse its decision, or send the case back to the board for reconsideration.
The lawsuit is just one component of an issue that has become a flashpoint in a larger debate over what the North Main Street corridor should look like, and how much say residents get in shaping their communities’ futures.
What happens to the existing title loan office?
Beyond the lawsuit against the zoning board, residents have raised separate transparency concerns about how the gas station plans were presented to the city board in the first place, specifically over what happens to an Auto Money Title Loans business currently on the site.
Developer Jason Stern with Stern Development in presenting the project to the zoning board positioned the Murphy plans as a tradeoff: keep the “unsightly” title loan that currently sits on the site, or get rid of the title loan and get something new in exchange.
At no point during that meeting did Stern explain that the title loan office would be rebuilt just a short distance from the new gas station.
Emails obtained by The State between city planning officials and Stern Development leadership show that developers knew as early as October 2025 that the title loan building would simply be rebuilt elsewhere on the site, months before Jason Stern presented the gas station plans to the zoning board.
Still, Stern did not explain those plans. Instead, he told the board that the Murphy plan was better than a previously rejected Circle K pitch for the site because the Murphy plan would include removing the title loan office.
“Circle K was planning to develop around this title loan building that’s currently on the corner … and that is the opposite of what we’re trying to do,” Stern told the board. “We are taking this building out. We’re going to be redeveloping a brand-new Murphy on the hard corner.”
“We think that that’s a major upgrade to … what they presented in 2023,” he said.
Neighborhood leaders have said they feel misled about the plans.
The State has requested comment from Jason and Bill Stern regarding the title loan issue numerous times, but neither developer has responded.
Read more ‘Avoid the area,’ Richland County sheriff says following deadly shooting
In order for the business to be rebuilt as planned, Columbia City Council must first change city law because of existing restrictions on where and how large payday and title loan lenders can be in the city.
Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann is sponsoring that change.
The Columbia Planning Commission rejected that change in April, with one board member calling it “suspect,” and numerous commissioners asking why the rule change appeared specifically tailored to one business.
The city has since determined it needs to re-write that rule change. The initial language would have allowed the title loan to be rebuilt only on the same property it already occupies. But because the Murphy plan includes subdividing the parcel, the city now must rewrite the rule change. The issue will go back to the Planning Commission with that re-write.
City Council isn’t obligated to honor the Planning Commission’s recommendations, however. Like this past fall, when the city council passed a slate of new restrictions on short-term rentals like Airbnbs, despite the planning board recommending otherwise.
Rickenmann recently told reporters that he sees the issue as being bigger than one development.
“To me, it’s a broader conversation. It’s about how do we help try to move some of these [title loan offices] and redevelop some of those into something that’s nicer.”
Currently, the owners of the title loan business in question own a roughly 3-acre parcel that includes the title loan office, a vacant former restaurant space and a stretch of undeveloped land. The gas station plans would subdivide the property, with the new Murphy station and convenience store on the intersection corner. Rickenmann said that opens up more possibilities for the corridor because it would free up currently unused space.
“People are forgetting the owner of that property … that’s three acres. It’s one parcel,” Rickenmann said. “So, if we don’t figure out a way to do something [there,] then we’re never going to see anything happen, because [the owner] has no incentive to change.”
Long-held vision calls for walkability
The corner is important, residents and city leaders agree.
It sits just above Earlewood Park to the south, it’s about a half mile to Prisma’s Richland Hospital to the east. The intersection is a gateway to the rest of North Columbia, and to the west is U.S. Highway 176, connecting neighborhoods across the river toward St. Andrews.
In 2025, an average of more than 30,000 vehicles travelled the intersection each day, according to the latest traffic counts from the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
While not one of Columbia’s busiest intersections, it is among the busiest in the North Main area. For decades, the corner has been seen as having potential for more. Millions in public dollars have gone toward making the North Main corridor look and feel more appealing to residents and small businesses.
A pain point for many residents who have spoken against the gas station has been a long-standing city plan passed in 2005 that envisions something walkable and vibrant for the corner. Residents have also said there are already too many gas stations and convenience stores in the area.
Read more It’s happening: Columbia is getting a Culver’s restaurant. Check out where