The Royal Oak Planning Commission voted Tuesday, July 8, to table a decision on whether to recommend approval of a new Kroger store, but not before two commissioners expressed disappointment with the grocery company’s plans.

The commission voted 3-2 to table the proposal until its Aug. 12 meeting. Commissioners Woody Gontina Fournier and Sharlan Douglas voted no. Commissioners Clyde Esbri and Gary Quesada were absent.

The Cincinnati-based Kroger plans to demolish the shuttered Comau manufacturing facility at 2800 W. 14 Mile Road, near Coolidge Highway, and build a nearly 103,000-square-foot store and gas station.

Douglas said she planned to vote against recommending approval to the City Commission.

She objected to “a sea of parking on 14 Mile and a big blank wall on Coolidge.”

Gontina said the company’s plan was not well developed. He said he was “shocked and surprised” by the number of deviations the company sought from city standards.

Mayor Michael Fournier, a member of the Planning Commission, voted to table the matter. He said he has not decided whether he will support Kroger when the proposal comes back next month, but said he was “underwhelmed” by the company’s plan.

Fournier advised company officials to “sharpen your pencils and come up with something else.”

The company is requesting a rezoning from general industrial to general business and is also asking for a number of variances from some city requirements, such as the amount of landscaping provided.

Mike McPherson, a representative of Atwell, an engineering firm contracted to Kroger, said the company will address the commission’s concerns at the next meeting.

He said the proposed Kroger at 14 Mile and Coolidge will offer amenities that shoppers want, such as a drive-through pharmacy. The company can’t provide those amenities at its store located about a mile away at 1237 Coolidge Highway in Troy.

That Kroger store, one of four in Troy, is about half the size of the proposed facility in Royal Oak. There is no way to expand it, McPherson said.

Kroger also operates one existing store in Royal Oak and one in Birmingham.

Kroger officials at the meeting would not comment on whether the store on Coolidge in Troy would close if the Royal Oak proposal is approved.

The proposed Royal Oak store is not far from a controversial Sheetz gas station, convenience store and restaurant at 3200 W. 14 Mile that the City Commission approved last month.

Residents vigorously opposed the Sheetz proposal, citing concerns about traffic at the T-shaped intersection of 14 Mile and Coolidge. Already, along Coolidge Highway north of 14 Mile Road, shopping options include a Meijer with its gas station, a Target store, and a Home Depot.

At the city’s request, Sheetz will pay to redesign a traffic light at the intersection to address traffic considerations.

An additional traffic study is underway as part of the Kroger approval process.