Politics & Government
Traffic Issues With Proposed Bridgewater Starbucks To Be Addressed
Hearings on the plan to build a Starbucks restaurant and drive-thru on Route 22 in Bridgewater are set to continue in August.
BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Hearings on the plan to build a Starbucks restaurant and drive-thru on Route 22 in Bridgewater are set to continue in August.
The applicant Bridgewater Realty II LLC went over its modified drive-thru plans again at the Bridgewater Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on Tuesday night. However, discussions on traffic issues were deferred until Aug. 27.
Henry Kent Smith, Fox Rothchild, who is the attorney representing Bridgewater Realty (Starbucks applicant), said they did not receive a review letter of the traffic study until a little more than a week prior to the zoning meeting. The letter raised some issues that the applicant wants to study.
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"Knowing how important that issue is to this Board it doesn’t make sense to get started on traffic when you could say, 'What about this? What about that?' We are going to study those issues, we're going to address each one," said Smith.
Smith said the applicant will then submit back to the Board a revised updated traffic analysis to address specific issues.
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"I know this is a critical issue to this Board and I want to make sure we have all of our I's dotted and T’s crossed," said Smith.
Bridgewater Realty II LLC is seeking a D-1 variance needed for a drive-thru restaurant and also to determine if the ordinance permits a second, independent restaurant on the site if and when a single hotel, a Hilton, is constructed on the property.
The original 2019 application on the former Days Inn and Houlihan's property included a hotel and a Goddard children’s preschool. Both were to be built alongside Houlihan’s, which has since closed and is now being replaced with Stone Tavern. Read More: Stone Tavern Moves Closer To Opening New Bridgewater Location
The proposed Starbucks would replace the Goddard school. The application is proposing two access locations to the site, one on Route 22 and one on Morgan Lane.
The next hearing on the application is set for Aug. 27 at 7 p.m.
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