Superior Court Dismisses Stop & Shop's Objections To ShopRite's Wyckoff Application

WYCKOFF, NJ — ShopRite inched closer Thursday to winning its legal battle to bring a supermarket to the Boulder Run Shopping Center.

A three-judge panel in the Superior Court Appellate Division dismissed the appeal of the final three courts of a 14-count objection Shop & Shop filed against Mahwah-based Inserra Supermarkets, ShopRite's parent company, to bring a 62,000-square-foot store to the township. Inserra owns 22 ShopRite stores. There is a Shop & Shop located on Franklin Avenue.

Superior Court Judge William Meehan previously dismissed the three counts in December 2014, prompting the appeal.

ShopRite's application dates back to 2010 when the Planning Board began conducting what would eventually be 38 hearings on the applications over two years. The board unanimously approved the application in February 2013, which kicked off the ongoing legal battle.

Shop & Shop contended that the Board did not have jurisdiction to consider the application because "supermarkets" was not a permitted use in the zone, it said. Inserra wants to open the store at site where an A&P grocery store used to be.

Stop & Shop's appeal of approvals by the Bergen County Planning Board and the Freeholder Board are still pending.

ShopRite attorney James Jaworski told NorthJersey.com that the decision "is huge" and is "very confident" that the deicsion on those appeals "will be similar."

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Pictured: Renderings of the proposed ShopRite store

Related coverage:

• Bergen County Superior Court Rules in Favor of Proposed ShopRite of Wyckoff
• Stop & Shop Sues Bergen County Over Wyckoff Supermarket Plans
• On-going Litigation Stalls Construction of Wyckoff ShopRite