Wawa, Panera Proposed For Route 70 Plots In Brick

BRICK, NJ — A developer has proposed building a Wawa and a Panera on a pair of wooded plots on Route 70 that back up to homes in Lake Riviera in an application set to go before the Brick Township Board of Adjustment next week.

Brick 70 Developers LLC, the developer, will need a number of variances for the property, according to a public notice distributed to property owners nearest to the lots, located at 535 and 545 Route 70.

John L. Jackson III, attorney for Brick 70 Developers, said the proposal is for a 5,585-square-foot Wawa with a 12-fuel pump gasoline station with an overhead canopy, and a 4,813-square-foot restaurant with a drive-through facility. The restaurant "may or may not be utilzed" as a Panera Bread restaurant, according to the letter.

The lots are not far from the already busy intersection of Route 70 and Duquesne Boulevard/Lake Shore Drive in the Lake Riviera development, and the back of the lot at 545 Route 70 runs not far from the rear of several homes on Lake Shore Drive. There is an another lot between 545 Route 70 and the homes that is not part of the proposed site plan.

The lots are split-zoned office-professional and residential, and convenience stores are not a permitted use in either zone, Johnson wrote.

The developer is seeking approval to deviate from conditional-use standards applicable to gasoline stations, Johnson writes, as well as a bulk approval of a long list of variances for the site.

The variances sought under the bulk approval request include:

• approval for an undersized lot area: 5 acres are required but the existing lot is 4.967 acres
• minimum lot width: 300 feet is required but 178 feet exists;
• minimum floor area: 30,000 square feet is required but 10,000 is proposed;
• side setback adjacent to a residential zone: 150 feet is required, 68.5 feet is proposed;
• buffer next to a residential zone: 150 feet is required, "plus or minus 50 feet" is proposed;
• sign height: 11.25 feet maximum is allowed, but 20 feet is proposed;
• approval to allow the location of refuse (garbage) areas within the buffer between the stores and the nearby homes
• approval for a drive-though menu board and canopy for the restaurant, which are not permitted in the zone.

There's also variances requested to permit the use of more signs, 9-foot instead of 10-foot-wide parking spaces, and a request for a waiver from construction of sidewalks along all street frontages, according to the letter.

There are a number of existing stores already in the immediate area, including a Wendy's restaurant with a drive-through that sits on a larger property just east of Duquesne Boulevard. The nearest convenience stores, however, are a 7-Eleven at the corner of Chambers Bridge Road and Route 70, and a Wawa that does not have fuel on Brick Boulevard at Cedar Bridge Road. There are no convenience stores on Route 70 in the stretch from Brick Plaza to the Garden State Parkway.

Brick 70 Developers, represented by Kenneth Freid of Paramount Realty, received preliminary approval for two commercial connections at the site from the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority in July. But board members stressed it was a preliminary approval only.

The application is scheduled to be heard by the Board of Adjustment on Wednesday, Nov. 9. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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