{"id":955,"date":"2026-06-04T14:37:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=955"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:37:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:37:27","slug":"court-date-set-as-columbia-neighborhoods-sue-over-controversial-gas-station-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=955","title":{"rendered":"Court date set as Columbia neighborhoods sue over controversial gas station plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>

Read more It\u2019s happening: Columbia is getting a Culver\u2019s restaurant. Check out where<\/a><\/p>

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.<\/p>

Nearby residents have repeatedly pushed back against the gas station plans, saying the project doesn\u2019t meet long-held goals to see the corridor become more community-oriented, walkable and vibrant.<\/p>

The city\u2019s zoning board approved the Murphy USA project in February.<\/p>

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\u2019s decision, saying the board didn\u2019t follow its own rules in granting the approval.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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\u2019 futures.<\/p>

What happens to the existing title loan office?<\/h2>

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.<\/p>

Developer Jason Stern with Stern Development in presenting the project to the zoning board positioned the Murphy plans as a tradeoff: keep the \u201cunsightly\u201d title loan that currently sits on the site, or get rid of the title loan and get something new in exchange.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>