The proposed remodeling job, which went before the Lake Placid-North Elba Review Board on Jan. 4, would be similar to those completed in the past few years at the Stewart’s gas stations and convenience stores in Keene and AuSable Forks. While review board approval would allow Stewart’s Shops to construct a new shop and district office on Saranac Avenue, the company has to seek an area variance from the Lake Placid-North Elba Zoning Board of Appeals before it can build the proposed gas canopy since the town and village have a 36-foot limit on gas canopy length.

The ZBA is holding a public hearing on the area variance, which is required before the board can vote on the variance.

The public hearing is at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27. People can attend the hearing virtually at meet.goto.com/904841533 or by calling at 646-749-3122 and entering access code 904-841-533.

The review board put the Stewart’s case on hold as it waits for the company to provide a new design for the gas canopy that would feature a peaked roof, rather than the originally proposed flat roof, as well as samples of the new store’s proposed siding material and color. The Stewart’s case could go before the review board again as soon as the board’s next meeting on March 1.

The Stewart’s rebuild review board proposal is available at tinyurl.com/4t78rzyh.

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The proposal

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Stewart’s is proposing to keep the current Stewart’s Shops open as it demolishes the former Desperados restaurant and rebuilds a nearly 4,000 square-foot Stewart’s convenience store in the former restaurant’s place. The company would also construct a nearly 1,500-square-foot Stewart’s district office, where district staff would have “cluster meetings” once a week, behind the new convenience store. Stewart’s would then demolish the current Stewart’s convenience store. The project would also widen the space between gas pumps and install four gas pumps rather than the existing three pumps on the property — necessitating the longer, 122-foot gas canopy — as well as create 35 parking spaces and install tree and shrub plantings on the property.

The size of the new shop would be the same size as the new Keene Stewart’s, according to Chuck Marshall, a Stewart’s representative who presented a sketch plan for the proposed rebuild to review board members on Jan. 4. Marshall often compared the proposed shop to the Stewart’s remodel in Keene, where the gas canopy has the mansard roof — or a small peaked roof — that the review board is now requesting for Lake Placid. The review board also asked Marshall for warmer LED lights for Lake Placid’s gas canopy, like the lights in Keene, rather than the brighter white lights currently proposed.

The new Stewart’s Shop on Saranac Avenue would have two entrances/exits — one on Saranac Avenue and another on Algonquin Drive. That’s a change from two existing entrances/exits on Saranac Avenue in addition to an entrance/exit on Algonquin. Marshall said the change is more in keeping with “today’s standards.”

Marshall estimated that demolition and construction would take a total of around 14 weeks if the rebuild is carried out as proposed. He said that, pending weather and the proper permits from the state Department of Transportation — which has jurisdiction over the Stewart’s entrance on Saranac Avenue — construction could start and be completed this year, either between March and July or starting on Labor Day and ending in November.

Marshall said the gas station wouldn’t be able to sell fuel for around four weeks while the gas pumps are being remodeled. That would leave Lake Placid with two available gas stations — the Exxon Mobil and the Stewart’s Shops on Main Street — during that time. The 7-Eleven on Main Street was demolished this past December.

Review Board Chairman Rick Thompson voiced his support for the project several times during the Jan. 4 meeting, saying the wider gas pumps and paths around them would better accommodate RV owners like him.

“As long as it’s an acceptable architectural design for the community, I think it works,” he said. “We need to be able to provide fuels to our visitors, and I like the fact that, again, I can get RVs and trucks with trailers and construction vehicles through that much easier than the current setup up there.”

Codes and Zoning Coordinator David Wright said on Friday that because the ZBA is holding a public hearing for the gas canopy, the review board believes it would be “redundant” to hold an additional public hearing for the review board. The review board only has jurisdiction over the proposed buildings, not the length of the gas canopy.

Stewart’s Shops also operates a store on Main Street.