NORTHAMPTON - Planners gave a proposed Cumberland Farms and gasoline station in the heart of Florence a unanimous thumbs-down Thursday night, denying a special permit and site plan approval.

Meantime, the Zoning Board of Appeals earlier in the night continued its hearing on the project. Both panels would have had to approve different aspects of the plans for the 24-hour convenience store and gas station to move forward.

The Planning Board cited several problematic issues before voting, from lighting and pedestrian safety to snow removal and vehicular traffic patterns. Cumberland Farms already operates a convenience store and gas station nearby on Main Street in Florence.

"You couldn't put this gas station as proposed even on King Street," Chairman Stephen Gilson said.

The company planned to close its existing station if the new project was approved.

Gilson said the board's major role was to determine whether the gas station and convenience store is an appropriate or fit use for the site, on the southeast corner of Main and Maple streets. Some board members said the site's proposed redevelopment does not fit in with the city's sustainability or master plans, while others cited a potentially deleterious impact on the neighborhood, from glare at night for neighbors to patrons leaving a bar across the street at closing and migrating to the convenience store in the early morning hours.

"I think the two businesses together will cause problems," said Robert Ross, of nearby Keyes Street. "This project just does not lend itself to this area."

Representing Cumberland Farms, Peter W. MacConnell, an Amherst attorney with the law firm Bacon Wilson, said the project was designed with pedestrian and traffic safety as a priority. The plans call for enhanced landscaping and improved aesthetics, including a 3,600-square-foot convenience store with clapboard and stone siding, he noted.

Plans also called for demolishing a house on an adjacent parcel.

As proposed, Cumberland Farms' plans did not meet the city's zoning requirements for lighting and parking and the corporation was seeking flexibility from the Planning Board and ZBA on those issues.

The site was formerly home to a Mobil service station, which closed in March.

"Clearly, the building is a better-looking building than what is there now," MacConnell said. "Overall, the Cumberland Farms will redevelop a tough corner. I do believe this would be a benefit to Florence."

Several neighborhood residents disagreed and their public comments were reinforced by Shutesbury attorney Michael Pill, who specializes in land use and who had been retained by Stephen Shea, an abutter to the property under review.

"It's a highway business (use) in a general business district," said Pill, who addressed both city panels separately Thursday night.

Shea said he feared the project would create a "wasp's nest" of cars trying to enter and leave Main Street, while others said the city shouldn't bend its zoning for a convenience store and three-pump gas station.

"Florence is a beautiful village and a beautiful area," F. Alex Johnson of Keyes Street told the board. "Emotionally, it's going to hurt if it happens. Aesthetically, I can't think of anything I'd rather not see in my town."

Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.