Rincon City Council members approved a preliminary site plan for a proposed reconfigured Gate convenience store at the corner of Fort Howard Road and Columbia Avenue.

The new store will be 3,500 square feet, Chad Zitterour of Kern and Company said. Work is expected to start in January or February and last about 120 days.

“This is a raze and rebuild,” Zittrouer said. “We’ll modernize everything.”

The existing fuel tanks will be removed, and Zittrouer said the stormwater drainage and the verification of 20 percent of greenspace have been addressed. The city staff also will receive information on access to Fort Howard Road.

The state Department of Transportation also has planned improvements for Fort Howard Road, according to city planner Lameisha Kelly. The DOT is looking to synchronize the lights at 9th Street and at the Walmart entrance.

A Murphy gas station planned for the northern end of the Walmart parking lot has been scrubbed, Kelly said. An old oak tree that was scheduled to be removed to make way for the gas station caused enough of an uproar that the company called a halt to the plans, according to Kelly.

“They have pulled the plans off the table for now,” she said. “They could revisit the site plan. They could come back.”

No one knows how old the tree in question is, Kelly added.