A 4-2 vote by city council Tuesday to permit a Super A grocery store in Granger could mean closure for Herbie's Grocery, a nearby convenience store on Wilson Drive.

In an interview this morning Herbie's co-owner Dee Balsam said she and husband, Herbie, are evaluating their plans now that the city has approved the conditional use of the lot next door by Super A.

'I don't know what we're going to do,' she said.

Councillors Yvonne Harris and Dave Stockdale were the only council members to vote against the conditional use. Coun. Doug Graham was absent.

Stockdale had originally proposed an amendment that the new store not be allowed to have a gas bar as one of the stipulations attached to the conditional use approval.

Proponent Sam Jurovich, who owns the Riverdale and Porter Creek Super As, has told council there won't be a gas bar at the new store in Granger.

Herbie's has a gas bar, but Dee Balsam said this morning the store can't survive only on its gas sales.

Mayor Ernie Bourassa pointed out last night the issue of a gas bar could be dealt with when the city considers the development permit Jurovich must obtain to work on the site.

Development agreements have more details of commercial projects like the new Super A store. They often include how many parking spots a store must have, landscaping details and similar issues.

Under the conditional use application approved last night, Jurovich must:

• Have a traffic study done by a traffic engineer licensed to practise in the Yukon to determine the expected traffic flow and address the impact on the neighbourhood;

• Sign a development agreement with the city for any improvements needed to mitigate traffic impacts coming out of the traffic study. Any changes must be approved by the city engineer;

• Have the development agreement with the city address the location and design of the store, parking, landscaping and screening; and

• Have a buffer between the store and the adjacent lot south of the property at the developer's expense to provide extra landscaping and screening.

While the development could mean closing Herbie's, Balsam acknowledged council can't regulate competition.

As a resident of the neighbourhood, she noted, she doesn't believe it is an appropriate use of the lot.

The property was originally zoned as two single-family lots in 1992. It was rezoned in 1993 for multi-residential use.

When the property was rezoned from multi-residential to neighbourhood commercial in 2002, Balsam has said she didn't speak up against the rezoning because a neighbourhood restaurant was being proposed for the site.

Under the neighbourhood commercial zoning, a grocery store is permitted only as a conditional use.

Harris suggested there are better places in the area for a full service grocery store which wouldn't result in the same kind of traffic concerns.

There are better properties where traffic could enter the store's parking lot via a collector road rather than through a local road like Wilson Drive, she said.

Jurovich said he isn't expecting the conditions the city placed on the development to delay the project at all.

'It was awesome,' he said of last night's vote.

He noted he had been optimistic it would be a 5-2 vote in favour of the development. Although it was 4-2, he pointed out Graham was absent.

Jurovich expects to be breaking ground near the end of May with a five-month construction window on the approximately $2-million project. Over the next few weeks, he's planning to work on the traffic study with city officials.

Jurovich also said the new store, expected to employ approximately 35 people, will likely open at the end of September or early October.