By Rodd Cayton, The Paper. — How many gas stations can one neighborhood handle? That’s the question neighbors from 8 neighborhoods living along Indian School Rd. and Carlisle Blvd. are asking.
A zoning examiner is now weighing a pair of requests that could lead to a new Maverik gas station on the site that was formerly home to Whole Foods market.
A coalition of eight neighborhood associations is trying to stop the project, citing concerns over pollution, crime, and a saturation of fuel stations in an area that already hosts three within a half-mile radius. The application would also require variances for additional driveways, already on site, to be maintained. Neighbors say the extra access points contribute to a complicated traffic pattern at a busy intersection where traffic from a new Whole Foods, American Home Furniture store, two gas stations, a strip mall and entrance and exit ramps to I-40 all merge within two blocks.
City of Albuquerque planning staff have recommended the applications be denied citing “significant adverse impacts to surrounding neighbors.”
“This use has the potential to create significant adverse impacts to
surrounding neighbors due to the hours of operation, which typically for convenience stores, is 24 hours per day. The former use as a grocery store, while perhaps generating more trips, confined those trips (other than early deliveries and commercial waste hauling) to 7am to 9pm.“City Planning Staff analysis of the requested application, Feb. 2, 2026
More than 100 concerned parties participated in a March 17 public hearing before Zoning Hearing Examiner Robert Lucero. At the hearing’s conclusion, Lucero said he would release his writing decision within 15 days.
Too many, too close?
The 30-year-old building was a Whole Foods store, but the retailer moved into a larger space across the street in 2024.
The land is now zoned MX-L (mixed-use low intensity), which allows light fueling stations but a permit is required because it’s adjacent to a residential zone which includes a large apartment complex.
Rich Piggott, site development manager for Maverik, which is applying to the city under the name Kum & Go LLC, said the site’s owners tried to repurpose the existing buildings and weren’t able to make it work. He said the company plans to serve the neighborhood from the new store, rather than depend on traffic pulling off I-40. Piggott said Maverik has hired professionals, including engineers to better understand traffic patterns in the area.
Maverik is working with ABQ Land Use Consulting LLC on the applications. That firm’s Carl Garcia said the store will not pursue a liquor license. He said it will not be open 24 hours, but will have round-the-clock surveillance and that neighbors’ concerns about the store attracting crime are misguided.
Eric Kruger of the North Campus Neighborhood Association said the Maverik would nearly double the number of fuel pumps in the area. He said he thought speakers at the hearing did a good job of comparing the application to the criteria on which the zoning decision will be made.
Kruger told CityDesk ABQ today that should the permit be denied, the neighborhood associations will be on guard to weigh in on a potential appeal. If the company prevails, he said, the groups will take their concerns up the line, including potential appeals to the City Council or district court.