Still No Vote On Proposed Quick Chek in Bridgewater

Bridgewater, NJ -- Township residents continue to come out in droves in opposition to the proposed Quick Chek, located between Routes 22 and 28.

At last night’s zoning board meeting, hundreds of residents sporting “No Quick Chek” arm badges filled the Bridgewater-Raritan High School auditorium to listen to continued testimony from Quick Chek on why they feel the application is a good fit for Bridgewater.

This was the fourth public hearing on the project, which calls for a 24-hour, 5,700-square-foot convenience market on Route 22 East at the site of the vacant 5.47-acre Tectonic property. There will also be 16 gas pumps and two deisel pumps.

Roger Greenway, an environmental scientist spoke about the emissions from the facility. He claimed using a model set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, that any emissions from fuel tanks or idling vehicles were too low to plot.

Residents asked questions of Greenway, but were more concerned with Robert F. Heffernan’s testimony.

Real Estate Appraiser

Heffernan, a real estate appraiser, presented his study looking at similar Quick Chek locations in Rahway, Whippany and South Bound Brook that have gas pumps and a convenience store.

He also looked at recent sales and the vicinity of homes to the store. Heffernan claimed homes located within a few hundred feet compared to homes miles away from the Quick Chek sold for about the same price.

“It was indicative to us, that there was no substantial price difference to properties relatively close to the Quick Chek facilities,” Heffernan said.

Heffernan’s study was presented to the board for the first time at the meeting, causing residents to complain that they didn’t have a chance to review it prior to the meeting.

Heather Suarez, an attorney hired by the nonprofit group Bridgewater Residents United, urged the board to allow Heffernan to come back at the next meeting.

Zoning Board attorney, Lawrence Vastola, denied this request, which caused the auditorium to erupt into boos and screams of “Not Fair!”

Conceding to the crowd, the board agreed to have Heffernan return at the next meeting to allow residents more time to look over his study and question him properly.

In the meantime, residents still questioned his study, even laughed at his findings.

“If I had to buy a house with a 24/7 Quick Chek now I wouldn’t buy the home,” one resident said.

Deborah Kurtz, who has well water and lives near the project, questioned whether people would be deterred from buying her home for fears of safety in the water being close to underground fuel tanks.

“Location, location, location,” one resident said. He was skeptical of Heffernan’s study based on people looking at location when purchasing a home.

Even Zoning Board Chairman Donald Sweeney noted that Heffernan’s study “did not have enough statistical data to make any analysis.”

Licensed planner testimony

Last up was Christine Nazzaro Cofone, a licensed consulting planner. She spent an hour giving all the reasons why Quick Chek should be allowed the variance on the property where service stations are currently banned.

She believes that service stations were not allowed because the township was afraid that is all that would proliferate on the highway, such as with the area east of the Somerville Circle on Route 22 -- that has six gas stations.

She also pointed to the township’s 2010 Route 22 Corridor Master Plan which calls for more retail in the area.

Time at the meeting ran out after Cofone’s testimony. The next meeting will be held on Feb. 2 at the Somerset County Vocational & Technical Schools auditorium, where Cofone will field questions from board members and the public.

After Cofone, Zoning Board Planner Scarlett Doyle will also have a chance to give her opinion of the project. And possibly the public will then have their chance to voice their opinion of the project as well.

“That’s being optimistic and having a hopeful view,” Sweeney said, as the past four meetings have lasted the full three hours.

For more information on the proposed project visit quickchek-bridgewater.com.

(Photo by Alexis Tarrazi. Robert F. Heffernan fields questions.)