Hearing Continued For New Route 88 Wawa Application In Brick

BRICK, NJ — The developer who sought to build a Wawa at Route 88 and Jack Martin Boulevard last year returned to the Brick Township Board of Adjustment Wednesday night, seeking approval for a revised plan for the site.

The new proposal for the site, on Route 88 in front of the Laurelton Mobile Home Park, eliminates a daycare center that had been part of JSM at Martin Boulevard's application last year, Douglas Wolfson, JSM's attorney said.

The hearing, which was not completed Wednesday evening, was continued to Aug. 8. Harvey Langer, chairman of the zoning board, told residents in attendance they would be able to as questions and voice their concerns at that hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the municipal building.

The zoning board, which denied JSM's previous application last August, could only consider a new application for the site because in removing the daycare center, JSM had made substantial changes to its original application.

The new application still includes plans for a 5,500-square-foot Wawa, a 4,000-square-foot bank with a drive-through and 7,180-square-foot site for an as-yet undetermined restaurant. It would not be a fast-food restaurant, Wolfson said.

The daycare center proposed on the previous application had created a need for a number of variances, but in eliminating it the variances were reduced to just a handful of issues, including one that will allow access to the Wawa and the rest of the shopping center from Jack Martin Boulevard.

"We did listen," Wolfson said. "We did go through the resolution carefully. We did go back to make changes. We listened to the safety issues you brought up, rightfully so."

"This is a much less intense use," he said.

Traffic concerns have been the biggest issue. Karl Pehnke, the traffic engineer for JSM, said the plans have received approval from the state Department of Transportation, which controls access to Route 88, a state highway.

Pehnke acknowledged that traffic already is very heavy on Route 88, particularly in the morning rush hour, but said Wawa is not considered a traffic generator because "its patrons are already here, unlike a Walmart or a CVS, which are traffic generators."

But the layout of the access to the site, with two driveways on Route 88 and one on Jack Martin Boulevard, still raised significant concerns for the zoning board. Wolfson and the professionals for JSM agreed to move the easternmost entrance further west, to give more sight distance at what board members and Board Engineer Brian Boccanfuso said is a dangerous curve in Route 88. That entrance also will be designated as a right-turn in, right-turn out only entrance. Langer also urged JSM to design traffic flow through the site to encourage people to use the Jack Martin Boulevard exit as their primary way out of the center.

The plans also call for widening Route 88 on the westbound side in front of the shopping center to create a full shoulder with curbing and installation of a sidewalk. Utility poles currently in place will be moved back. Pehnke said "a properly designed shoulder" will improve the sightlines on the curve.

JSM planner Christine Cofone said the Wawa and the other two retail sites are permitted under the commercial business zoning that covers most of the parcels — three lots are involved — and are much smaller overall than other possible options that JSM could consider for the site.

The status of the on-paper portion of Askin Lane, which runs behind neighboring Laurel Square Shopping Center, remains up in the air. There has been a request from JSM for the Township Council to vacate the paper street, but that remains in limbo.

There also was discussion of whether JSm needs to submit plans for the mobile home park because the some of the homes sit in the township's right-of-way. Wolfson insisted the mobile home park did not need a site plan, even though some homes that have been at the front of the site will be moved if the application is approved.

"We’re not proposing anything other than putting in stone and gravel," Wolfson said. "We are improving the conformity" to current zoning regulations.

Zoning board attorney Ron Cucchiaro said it was an issue he would look into before the next hearing.

The new proposed plan for the Route 88 site for a Wawa and restaurant. Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff