The Southaven Board of Aldermen voted to deny a conditional-use permit from Murphy Oil USA to replace an existing multi-tenant building with a convenience store and fuel pumps at the southwest corner of Highway 51 and Stateline Road.

Planning director Whitney Cook told the board staff recommended denial after a review of the conditional-use criteria, citing traffic and public-safety concerns, the presence of multiple existing stations in the corridor and the site’s nonconforming lot size. “Staff recommended denial based on the criteria you see above,” Cook said during the meeting.

The application generated extended discussion at the council meeting and at the planning commission before it. Developer representatives presented a traffic study and argued the project would redevelop a long-vacant, blighted property and capture retail sales that currently leak to nearby jurisdictions. Nader Mezzer, the project developer, said the proposal would be “a full redevelopment of an underutilized blighted site” and described the project as “a $4,000,000 investment, 100% privately funded” that would generate local jobs and new sales tax revenue.

City staff and the police department disputed those benefits in the specific location. Cook said the parcel sits inside the city’s West End revitalization overlay, where staff aims to diversify commercial uses and reduce auto-oriented development. The planning report noted that the parcel measures about 0.9 acres while the C-4 zoning district calls for a minimum lot size of 1 acre. The report also said the police department supplied call-volume data and warned the proposed use would increase law-enforcement demands at an intersection that already generates high service calls.

Mayor (name not specified) framed the question in public-safety terms. “Public safety trumps every decision in the city,” the mayor said, adding the city’s Operation Close the Door — a focused policing initiative on the state line — depends on limiting additional high-call-volume properties near the Tennessee border.

Residents and nearby business owners also opposed the application at the meeting. Beth Davidson, owner of a locally operated business directly south of the site, told the board she feared a 24-hour station would attract transients and increase crime and traffic. A long-time tenant of the existing building, who said she had operated at the location for more than 15 years, asked the city to require the property owner to retain multi-tenant uses instead of clearing the building for a single national chain.

Planning commissioners had previously voted to deny the request; at the city meeting Alderman Hoose moved to deny the application and Alderman Jerome seconded the motion. The motion carried on a roll-call vote.

The developer’s representatives said they may pursue other locations in the city but that they believe the proposal met zoning standards and would capture retail sales currently occurring outside Southaven. The planning director noted the board could consider the company’s traffic study if the applicant pursues future proposals at other sites.

The denial leaves the existing building and its current tenants in place for now; any demolition or redevelopment that would change the property’s nonconforming status would require further approvals.

The board took no further action on related appeals or variances at the meeting.