Proposed Bridgewater Starbucks To Return Before Zoning Board

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Hearings on the plan to build a Starbucks restaurant and drive-thru on Route 22 in Bridgewater will resume for the first time this year following Zoning Board members' concerns over safety and traffic.

The Bridgewater Zoning Board of Adjustment is slated to hear the application at its Jan. 28 meeting.

The last time the application, by Bridgewater Realty II LLC to build next to the former Houlihans restaurant off Route 22 East, was heard on Aug. 28, 2024 emotions ran high. Read More: Concerns Over Fatal Crashes Send Proposed Bridgewater Starbucks Back To Drawing Board

Bridgewater Zoning Board of Adjustment Chairman Jeffrey Foose said that "someone is going to get killed at this location" over concerns the drive-thru traffic might back up onto Route 22.

Bridgewater Township Planner Katherine Sarmed also said Starbucks' current plan is "chaotic" and needed to be "more streamlined."

"There has to be another opportunity to do exactly what the Chairman said. To redesign it so the overflow never looks to 22. Never even comes close to 22 because we shouldn’t even have that risk and the one time it happens it should never happens. Let's look at the site design. Let's see if we can reconfigure the drive-thru. Find queuing where it's in a lane but overflow elsewhere in a safe location," said Sarmed.

Foose added that the Board wants "to approve this [application], we just want it safe."

Starbucks had previously modified its proposed drive-thru plans in March when Bridgewater Zoning Board members expressed concerns over traffic backing up from the Starbucks drive-thru onto Route 22 similar to what is happening at the Dunkin location on Route 22 in Somerville.

Henry Kent-Smith of Fox Rothchild, who is the attorney representing Bridgewater Realty (Starbucks applicant) asked the Board to "please give us one last shot to come back to this Board with a redesign that addresses conclusively your concern."

A revised plan is expected to be presented at the Jan. 28 meeting at 7 p.m. in the Bridgewater Municipal Courtroom, 100 Commons Way, Bridgewater.

Previous Reporting:

• Concerns Over Fatal Crashes Send Proposed Bridgewater Starbucks Back To Drawing Board
• Proposed Bridgewater Starbucks Modifies Drive-Thru Plans To Address Traffic Concerns
• Traffic Issues With Proposed Bridgewater Starbucks To Be Addressed

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