A mom-and-pop State Street shop asked ACHD to pay for some losses. Here’s what happened
A corner gas station and convenience store lost $1.3 million in sales during the 11 months of reconstruction of the Collister Drive-West State Street intersection, its owners say. They want the Ada County Highway District to cover 1/13th of that.
On the Fly Gas Mart owners Mike and Lisa Zehner submitted a claim seeking $100,000 from ACHD for personal losses they said they suffered before the $11.6 million project was completed late last month.
On Wednesday, the ACHD Commission upheld a staff decision denying the couple’s claim. The reason? Idaho law doesn’t allow compensation for lost business.
“The inconvenience and damage which a property owner suffers from these temporary obstructions are incident to city life and must be endured,” ACHD attorney Steven Price said, reading from a 1963 court decision.
The project moved the southern end of Collister Drive 240 feet west to make Collister perpendicular to State and improve sight lines. Curbs were added, along with new sidewalks.
On the Fly sits at the northeast corner of the intersection. While there was access to the business from both State Street and Collister, most people drove on past.
“People don’t go to our store because they have to,” Lisa Zehner told commissioners. “It’s convenient. You took away our convenience.”
The highway district erected a sign to let motorists know the business was open during construction and tried to mitigate the impacts as much as possible, Price said.
Lisa Zehner said the couple had to terminate the store’s manager and take other measures to cut expenses.
“It has forced us to borrow against our home, as well as from family members, and max out every avenue of credit that we have,” she said.
Commissioner Sara Baker said she was sympathetic to the losses suffered by the Zehners. But in light of the law and the fact the highway district maintained access to the business and had signs out, Baker said there was no legal remedy.
The Zehners said they have not ruled out consulting with an attorney to decide whether to contest the decision.
This isn’t the first time the highway district has taken heat over a State Street road project. The owners of the former Smoky Davis smoked-meat shop sued the district over eminent domain.
ACHD demolished the smoked meat store in 2017 as part of an intersection expansion at State Street, Veterans Memorial Parkway and 36th Street. The store at 3914 W. State was owned by Gary and Dee Davis. The building had been in the Davis family since Gary’s grandfather, Del, bought it in 1953.
Earlier this year, a judge ruled that the Davises can move forward with their claim.
Meanwhile, another family business northwest of Collister on State, Merritt’s Family Restaurant, famously known as “Home of the Scones” for more than four decades, might be forced to move.
The planned widening of State Street by the Ada County Highway District to six lanes northwest of Pierce Park Lane would shave off the parking area in front of the restaurant at 6630 W. State St. That would make it impossible to keep operating, the owners of the restaurant said earlier this year.
