Drivers wait to fuel at the Sam’s Club gasoline station at 7147 Greenback Lane, adjacent to Fountain Square Drive. A project application was filed with the Citrus Heights Planning Department in mid-February to add two fuel bays under an enlarged canopy to ease congestion during peak retail sales hours. Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) – Sam’s West, Inc., operating as Sam’s Club and owned by Walmart, refiled an application with the Citrus Heights City Planning Department in mid-February.

The application proposes the addition of two fuel bays under an expanded canopy at the Sam’s Club gasoline station located at 7147 Greenback Lane, adjacent to Fountain Square Drive.

“The new application permit is the same as the original application, with no changes to the project’s original site layout or general landscaping plan,” said Marisa Brown, Citrus Heights communications officer.

Sam’s Club offers members-only prices on regular, premium and diesel fuel at its Citrus Heights Fountain Square Drive club location.

“The first application stalled and was eventually withdrawn when it was discovered the expanded project area crossed two different parcels, both which are owned by the parent company of Sam’s Club,” Brown said.

Brown said that the new February application acknowledges that the owners must merge the two parcels involved to avoid the project area crossing a property line. A hearing date on the project by the Citrus Heights Planning Department has yet to be set, Brown said. 

The new fueling lanes are designed to ease congestion during popular peak sales hours and improve the overall member fueling experience with quicker exit times for customers.

Two new fueling bays with four new pumps under an enlarged overhead canopy are proposed. New lane striping leading to the additional new fuel bays would then ease traffic congestion for drivers waiting their turn in line to buy gas, according to plan designs submitted by Kimley-Horn and Associates, of Orange.

Other improvements would include placement of shade trees and improvements to facility lighting.

Members who enter from Greenback Lane turn onto Fountain Square Drive toward the Citrus Heights Event Center and make a U-turn to enter the gas station.

When their fueling is complete, they exit by turning right into the main Sam’s Club parking lot and then turn back toward Fountain Square Drive.

Neither a representative for Kimley-Horn and Associates nor a local Sam’s Club management at the Citrus Heights Fountain Square store responded by press time to a request for comment about the recently revised and resubmitted project.

Plan documents can be viewed online at citrusheights.net/DocumentCenter/Index/1023.

The Sam’s Club fuel center in Fountain Square is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.