Gasoline station: what may be sold and what the lot must measure

They are Rules 8.8.2, 8.8.3 and 8.8.4 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, which complete Chapter 8.8. Each permits establishing gasoline — or diesel — stations, or expanding them, in a group of districts, provided they comply with Rule 8.8.1, the siting and separation rule, and also with each rule’s own requirements: the uses permitted inside the main building, a table of height, area, width, occupancy and yard parameters, and the conditions for accessory buildings and uses. This guide is the inside half; the outside half — where it may be sited and why no variance is available — is in our companion guide.

For C-I, C-C and C-T districts, establishing gasoline or diesel stations or expansions is permitted where they comply with Rule 8.8.1 and with Rule 8.8.2’s requirements. In I (Industrial) districts it is likewise permitted where they comply with Rule 8.8.1 and with Rule 8.8.3’s requirements. In R-G and ARD districts it is permitted where they comply with Rule 8.8.1 and with Rule 8.8.4’s requirements. For R-G districts and non-qualified areas, the regulation adds a siting criterion: facing roads in these districts and in non-qualified areas, stations may be established according to the number of existing dwellings in population settlements within a radius of one thousand six hundred metres, measured from the proposed location. The regulation states the criterion but publishes no number of dwellings; we do not invent one.

• Complying with Rule 8.8.1 (General Provisions on Gasoline Stations) in addition to the district’s own requirements: all three district rules expressly require it.Verified against the official source
• Limiting the main building’s operation to the uses Section 8.8.2.2 permits exclusively, from inciso a to g.Verified against the official source
• If alcoholic beverages are sold: that they be sealed, with no consumption on the station’s premises, and that parking for not less than three vehicles be provided within the lot without interrupting the motorist service areas.Verified against the official source
• That any other use permitted in the district have a gross floor area no greater than the station’s established main use, and not exceed three hundred and fifty square metres.Verified against the official source
• Observing, at a minimum, the corresponding district table’s parameters: maximum height, minimum lot area and width, occupancy area and yards.Verified against the official source
• Keeping to one accessory building, within the height caps and ten per cent of the lot area, sited in that part of the lot where the main building is allowed.Verified against the official source

• In these three rules the regulation lists no documents beyond those the permit procedure requires; what it fixes are uses and parameters. The filing documents come from the siting chapter and the corresponding permit process.

1. 1

   Step 1: The seven uses permitted in the main building

   Section 8.8.2.2 says that as part of a gasoline station’s operation, exclusively the following is permitted in the main building. One, inspection stations. Two, washing and greasing, except in C-I districts. Three, minor repairs, such as oil and filter changes, brakes, spark plugs, points, condensers, lamps, horns and tyres, or attending any other mechanical emergency of a motor vehicle. Four, services to the motorist, such as selling foodstuffs, household articles, novelties and non-prescription medicines, cigarettes and sealed alcoholic beverages, with two express conditions: their consumption on the station’s premises is not permitted, and parking for not less than three vehicles must be provided within the lot without interrupting the motorist service areas. Five, the sale of fuels and lubricants. Six, the sale and installation of tyres, batteries and those motor vehicle accessories and parts that are easily and quickly installed. And seven, any other use permitted in the district where it sits, whose gross floor area is not greater than the station’s established main use or does not exceed three hundred and fifty square metres.

2. 2

   Step 2: The same uses in industrial, R-G, ARD districts and non-qualified areas

   No need to look for another list. Section 8.8.3.2 provides that in I (Industrial) districts the uses in properties occupied or used for gasoline stations are permitted under Section 8.8.2.2, from inciso a to g. And Section 8.8.4.3 provides the same for R-G and ARD districts and for non-qualified areas. A detail from the source: in its cross-reference, Section 8.8.4.3 titles 8.8.2.2 as "Uses in Gasoline Stations in C-I and C-T Districts", leaving out the C-C that 8.8.2.2 itself does include in its title. We flag it because we would rather you saw the text as it stands.

3. 3

   Step 3: The C-I, C-C and C-T table

   Stations in these districts observe at a minimum these parameters. Maximum height: six metres. Minimum lot area: one thousand two hundred metres — as the table prints it, without the word "square" one would expect in an area. Minimum lot width: twenty metres. Maximum occupancy area: sixty per cent. Yards from the dispenser area: the depth or width of any front yard shall be four metres twenty-five centimetres; the lateral or rear yard shall be not less than six metres, including the distance from the dispenser to the main building. Yards for the main building and accessory buildings: the depth or width of any lateral and rear yard shall be not less than three metres.

4. 4

   Step 4: The industrial districts table

   Here two cells refer back to the specific district instead of giving a number. Maximum height is determined on the basis of the permitted gross floor area and the size of the yards required for the specific district where the property sits. Minimum lot area: one thousand two hundred metres. Minimum lot width rises to twenty-five metres. The occupancy area is that established for the specific district where the property sits, and so is the gross floor area. The yards are the same as in the commercial districts: four and twenty-five from the dispenser area at the front, not less than six lateral or rear including the distance from the dispenser to the main building, and not less than three for the main and accessory buildings. Accessory buildings and uses in these districts are governed not by this rule but by Chapter 8.4, which we did not read for this guide and therefore do not summarise.

5. 5

   Step 5: The R-G, ARD and non-qualified areas table

   Maximum height: six metres. Minimum lot area: one thousand two hundred metres. Minimum lot width: twenty-five metres. Occupancy area: thirty per cent, half of what the commercial districts allow. The table also includes a minimum separation cell between stations — the new one and another existing or previously authorised: two thousand two hundred linear metres when located on either margin of the same road, and one thousand two hundred radial metres when located on different roads. There is a mismatch there with the separation rule: Section 8.8.1.5, inciso b, point 2, says "one thousand two hundred (1,200) linear metres when located on different roads". That same cell refers to incisos c, d and e of "Section 8.7.1.5", when the section carrying that title is 8.8.1.5. We resolve neither: we flag them so you ask in writing before buying land. The yards are the same as in the other two tables.

6. 6

   Step 6: The dwellings-within-1,600-metres criterion

   For R-G districts and non-qualified areas there is a siting criterion apart from the separations: facing roads in these districts and in non-qualified areas, gasoline stations may be established according to the number of existing dwellings in population settlements within a radius of one thousand six hundred metres, measured from the proposed location. The regulation states the criterion but publishes no dwelling figure or scale; we are not going to invent one. If your project falls there, ask OGPe or the municipality in writing what number they apply and from what data source.

7. 7

   Step 7: The accessory building: only one, and capped

   In C-I, C-C and C-T districts one accessory building is permitted, usable for installing and storing parts, accessories and other articles whose sale is permitted at gasoline stations; the minor repairs permitted in the main building; vehicle polishing; and siting ice-making machines for retail sale. No accessory building shall exceed six metres in height or occupy an area greater than ten per cent of the lot area, and it goes in that part of the lot where the main building is allowed. In R-G and ARD districts and in non-qualified areas the rules are similar but stricter on height: one accessory building for the permitted activities, none with more than one storey or more than five metres high, with the same ten-per-cent cap and the same location rule.

Before OGPe or the hierarchy I-III Autonomous Municipality, as applicable, within the station’s permit process. These three rules fix uses and parameters; the process itself, the notification, the viability study and the public hearings are in Rule 8.8.1 and are covered by our companion siting guide. For accessory buildings and uses in Industrial districts, the regulation refers to Chapter 8.4.

• Believing any business can go in the station: the main building admits exclusively the seven listed uses.
• Selling alcoholic beverages for consumption on the station’s premises, which the regulation expressly prohibits.
• Forgetting the parking for not less than three vehicles within the lot that goes with motorist services.
• Going over three hundred and fifty square metres in the "any other use" of inciso g, or exceeding the main use’s area.
• Putting washing and greasing in a C-I district, where inciso b excludes it.
• Applying the commercial districts’ sixty per cent occupancy in R-G or ARD, where it is thirty.
• Putting up more than one accessory building, or going over ten per cent of the lot area.
• Meeting the district table and thinking that is that: all three rules also require compliance with Rule 8.8.1.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov