Super Wawa Application Withdrawn In Cherry Hill After Community Outcry

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The owners of a Cherry Hill shopping center withdrew an application for a 24-hour Super Wawa on Route 70 after neighbors' opposition and the township council's concerns.

Hortense Associates LP submitted a letter to the township's Department of Community Development on Dec. 21, withdrawing the application for the Super Wawa at a vacant end of Barclay Farm Shopping Center, on West Gate Drive.

The decision was made in consultation with Wawa, according to the letter written by attorney Richard J. Goldstein and provided to Patch by community organizer Martha Wright.

Hortense, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Kaiserman Company Inc., owns the shopping center on Route 70. The Barclay Pavilion office building there was torn down in October, local business site 70and73.com reported. The Super Wawa plan would also have required knocking down a business and one single-family home on West Gate Drive, neighbors told NJ.com.

Residents near the shopping center were concerned about traffic, noise, and pollution in their community if the store were to open, according to NJ Advance Media.

Cherry Hill's township planning board never heard the application, which called for a convenience store with 16 fuel pumps, according to reporter Neill Borowski of 70and73.com.

Neighbors in the Barclay Farm and Kingston Estates neighborhoods began fighting the planned Super Wawa when plans were announced last year, Borowski reported. Members in an online group, Preserve Barclay, celebrated the news that the developer had withdrawn their application.