The dry cleaner who launders my ties is probably out shopping for a new sports car today. Soon there will be another drive-thru restaurant where I can get biscuits and gravy, and anyone who has seen me try to safely drive the F-150, eat biscuits and gravy, and keep my tie clean will understand why my dry cleaner is dancing a little jig these days. (My insurance agent, not so much.)

Plans have been filed at Lawrence City Hall to convert the old BP gas station at 914 Iowa St. into a Sandbar sub shop. Scott Zaremba, the owner of the chain of American Fuels stations in Lawrence (they used to be called Zarco 66 stations until Zaremba and Phillips 66 parted ways recently), is behind the project.

Zaremba plans to remove the old gas pumps and tanks from the BP station, which has been vacant for more than a year, and convert the building into Lawrence’s fourth Sandbar shop. The Sandbar shops sell a variety of sub sandwiches, hot dogs, salads, and, yes, biscuits and gravy and other breakfast items. Zaremba plans to convert the gas station’s car wash bay into a covered drive-thru.

Zaremba said he hopes to have the renovations complete in the next 60 days or so. When the project is done, it will be part of a larger complex that Zaremba will operate at Ninth and Iowa. Zaremba already owns the two sets of fueling stations and the car wash and the Scooters drive-thru coffee shop north of the old BP station.

“Our plan is to have whatever you need at Ninth and Iowa,” Zaremba said.

Zaremba plans for the new Sandbar to be open 24 hours a day. Think of it: Biscuits and gravy in the dead of the night. Now my insurance agent is really worried.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Another area to keep an eye on for future development — perhaps even for a gas station or transportation center — is near 31st and Haskell. The intersection will be right next to one of only two interchanges on the western portion of the South Lawrence Trafficway.

Signs of activity are beginning to emerge for a piece of land near the intersection. Plans have been filed to re-plat about 13 acres just north and west of where 31st and Iowa currently intersect. The property is owned by a trust controlled by Stan Zaremba, who is Scott Zaremba’s father and the founder of the Zarco chain.

I didn’t get a chance to get any details from Scott Zaremba about what plans the family may have for the property, which now holds a big pile of wood chips from a tree service. The plans filed call for five small industrial lots to be combined into one 13.7 acre lot.

The property is zoned General Industrial, which allows gas and fuel sales and even would allow property owners to apply for a special-use permit for a truck stop. Again, this plan came in after I already had talked to Zaremba, so I don’t know what, if any, plans exist for the property. But if I hear more details, I’ll let you know.

• While we’re on the subject of gas stations, I’ll be seeking more information about activity around the Presto gas station at 602 W. Ninth St.

If you remember back in 2006, the Presto station had an underground gasoline leak that was suspected of causing an apartment house fire in Old West Lawrence.

At the time, the leaking tanks were thought to have allowed more than 1,000 gallons of fuel to enter the groundwater in the neighborhood. That creates a potentially dangerous situation. Sump pumps can allow the vapors from the gasoline to enter homes and become a combustion risk.

Given all that, it is interesting to note that Presto leaders are seeking city permission to install additional “ground water monitoring wells and collection equipment” in the 800 block of Ohio Street. According to a city memo on the subject, current monitoring devices have “shown some contamination and there exists a need to expand the collection area.”

There was nothing in the memo that indicated there is an immediate danger to any properties, but I’ll be checking with various officials today to try to get some details about the latest request.

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