San Gabriel Valley : Gas Station May Not Get Walking Papers

Pasadena city officials told a Mobil station owner months ago that his business would get the heave-ho to make way for an ambitious redevelopment project.

But the price tag to relocate or buy out the business might be $1 million--and that has given at least one council member second thoughts.

“We’re asking about costs and sensibilities,” Councilman Paul Little said.

Under current plans, the station in the economically depressed northwest neighborhood would be removed to make way for a family-style restaurant. A shopping center, including a 55,000-square-foot Vons supermarket, would be built on the same block.

Little, who originally supported the plan to relocate the station, discussed its cost with other council members in a closed session Monday.

But Councilman Chris Holden, who represents the northwest area, said that in dozens of community meetings over six years, residents have made it clear they want a family-style restaurant, even if it meant getting rid of the gas station. Development agreements specify getting rid of the service station in an effort to make the block “pedestrian friendly,” he added.

The owner of the gas station, Art Flores, who has been in business for 25 years, wants to stay put. He has collected the signatures of 200 customers who want the city to leave his station where it is, at the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard.

“I really don’t want their money,” Flores said. “I just want to be left alone.”