Love's Travel Stop OK'd by planning commission

A proposed Love's Travel Stop and Country Store received approval Monday night from the Sidney Planning Commission.

Dave Pierson, a senior project manager for Galloway Architecture and represented Love's, made a presentation to the commission that included plans for an International House of Pancakes, a housing facility for its employees and a new hotel. The stop will be located off the easternmost Sidney exit of Interstate 80.

Pierson also requested that three parcels of land there be re-zoned – a total area of 9.1 acres. That request was approved by the commission as well.

The project next goes to the Sidney City Council for final approval on Oct. 28

Love's plans to include a hotel in the project, with Pierson saying it could be a Sleep Inn or an Extended Stay.

Much of the discussion was made about the housing units that are to be constructed for Love's employees. Love's plans on bringing new jobs to Sidney, as well as housing for those who obtain those jobs. The housing would be a "dorm-style setting.".

"There are 24 units that are set to be dorm style," Pierson said. "In the two-bed units, there are two beds with each having their own bathroom, common kitchen and common living room," said Pierson.

Love's has provided housing for three of its other locations, Pierson said.

"I've done this at a couple of locations in various forms," said Pierson. "Love's is very conscious to the needs of their employees."

In other business at the meeting, Viaero Wireless presented a plan for a new cell tower to help with rising data demands in the community. The commission approved that request as well.

"For the past five or six years, phones have become high-powered computers that stream radio, take pictures and connect you to the Internet," said Viaero representative Rick Bailey. "There's only a small spectrum that can be used. It's not infinite. It's very small so we have to make adjustments in our network to accommodate for the ten-fold use that our customers are currently putting on."

Bailey was alluding to apps such as Youtube, Facebook, Vine and Instagram that use a lot of data.

"Along with all the new apps, the photos we take on our phones are now HD," Bailey said. "Just a few years ago, Netflix made it possible to stream movies from your phone. That takes a lot of power.

" With 4G and what's coming in the future, the data is what's generally the problem," Bailey said. "People seldom use a great amount of data on phone calls now. We're trying to make adjustments as rapidly as we can now."