Columbia City Council votes down BreakTime, Providence Road improvements

The Columbia City Council decided against allowing a new Break Time convenience store to be built on Grindstone Parkway.

The store was set to be built on the corner of Grindstone and Rock Quarry Road. People living in the immediate area had been against the project, but some were swayed when MFA Oil, which owns Break Time, offered to pay for street improvements.

The council also voted to take back a plan to fix Providence Road just north of Stadium Boulevard.

In a five-to-two vote, the majority of the council rescinded phase one of the Providence Road Improvement Project against council members Barbara Hoppe and Fred Schmidt.

The plan would have involved, among other projects, removing homes in the Grasslands neighborhood in order to wide Providence Road and ease traffic congestion in the area.

Even though a majority of the Grasslands residents wanted phase one to continue its course.

They voted 70 percent in favor of the plan Thursday before the city council meeting, according to the association’s president Robbie Price.

Some who voted to repeal the plan approved last November said they may consider a less expensive alternative, including re-directing internal traffic from Providence by expanding a narrow road, Birch, and moving the traffic signal at Rollins to Burnam, where many students currently run through traffic without a crosswalk, according to councilwoman Laura Nauser, who said property rights should be respected.

Now council members will ask for the public’s input on how to make the plans better. No timeline for a new plan has been established yet.