By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Neighbors will get a look at plans for a Minot Avenue Cumberland Farms convenience store and gas station this week.

Cumberland Farms hopes to build on the former home of the Gooseberry Barn gift store, on the corner of Fairview and Minot avenues.

Developers will present their plans to the public at a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in Auburn Hall. It goes to the Planning Board for approval on Aug. 9.

Cumberland Farms first approached the city in May with a rough idea of its plans, according to Planning Director David Galbraith. Those plans would have put a 4,000-square-foot convenience store with eight gas pump stations and an automated car wash on the lot, as well as a drive-through Dunkin’ Donuts store. That’s a lot more than current zoning on the site allows, Galbraith said.

“We raised a bunch of concerns with that,” Galbraith said. “We had concerns with the impact on the surrounding neighborhood, and about the making a dangerous intersection worse.”

The company didn’t file a formal application until recently, Galbraith said. The proposed building is smaller and the doughnut shop is gone. It has six gas pumps now and fewer entrances onto Minot Avenue.

He’s still studying the application and hasn’t decided if he will recommend that the Planning Board pass it.

“My issue is that it’s right next to a school,” he said. Kids walking down Minot Avenue to the nearby Fairview Elementary would have to contend with much more traffic.

“Convenience store traffic is normally people popping in on impulse,” Galbraith said. “I’m nervous that they might not be paying enough attention to the kids. It’s already a dangerous intersection.”