A controversial plan for a convenience store and gas station at Scott’s Corners that has bounced between the Town of Montgomery’s Planning and Zoning Boards for more than two years, was back before the planning board recently.
QuickChek’s proposal for a new structure at the site of the shuttered Crossroads Restaurant was first submitted in late 2020. The plan calls for a 6,730 square-foot building at the site, larger than what is permitted for a convenience store under current zoning. But the developer has argued that only 2,450 square feet of the building would be designated as a convenience store. There would also be a seating area, and a food preparation area that would include fresh coffee.
A number of items pertaining to the site plan were hashed out at last week’s meeting, including the building color and lighting.
“The next big step in this application process is obtaining a (State Environmental Quality Review) SEQR determination from the planning board,” John W. Furst, attorney for the applicant, told the planning board last week. “I think, again, we’ve hashed out most of the issues, we’re kind of down to the details.”
Furst said there has been a lot of misinformation about his client’s application.
“The issue that Citgo, which is the neighbor and gas station across the street, has nothing to do with the size of the building,” Furst said. “It has to do with how the convenience store area is calculated within that building. So under your zoning code, as of right, we are actually entitled to a 13,000 square foot footprint as well as an approximately 36,000 square foot building. Another thing I wanna point out, this is not a rezone. The town just went through extensive zoning amendments. This use is permitted. Gasoline station with convenience store is permitted by special use permit from the planning board subject to site plan approval. When a town board allows something via special use permit, it’s tantamount to a legislative finding that that use is consistent with the community character.”
Furst said the application complies with the town’s zoning regulations.
“Just last year or 18 months ago, the town did change the zoning amendments with respect to gasoline stations and convenience stores, but the only change the town board made was to actually increase the area of the convenience store area,” Furst said. “So the town board increased it from 1500 to 2500 square feet. That was the only change to the definition. The town board recognized that in this day and age, convenience stores have to be larger. And this is also consistent with the comprehensive plan where this Scott’s Corner calls for large scale, non residential development to serve a larger region. That’s exactly what we’re proposing here. It’s consistent with the comprehensive plan and it’s consistent with the zoning. So regardless of what happens in Citgo’s lawsuit, the size of the store is not going to change.”
Matthew Rudikoff, planning and zoning consultant representing the neighboring Citgo Station, argued that the proposed QuickChek is simply too large.
“We’re not saying that this use is not appropriate or not allowed in this location, it definitely is allowed and we’re saying that the building is too large, that it’s shoehorned onto the site, that it’s necessitating variances regarding the distance to the intersections which is a very crucial thing,” Rudikoff said. “We’re not saying it doesn’t comply with the comprehensive plan in terms of the use, even serving the regional needs for the driving and vehicular market. We’re not saying any of those things, we’re just saying it’s too large and that’s what the (owner of the Mobil station) across the street is saying as well, not that the gas station be there, they understand business, he owns multiple gas stations, most of them are in the vicinity of other gas stations.”
Rudikoff argued that the entire 6,700 foot structure should be considered a convenience store, not just the 2,500 square feet within the structure.
“And there’s nothing in this ordinance which describes any kind of parsing out of the space to determine which of those products that are being sold or which of the other elements of the building including the kitchen area or the boiler rooms or the bathrooms that are all going to be used by the gas station and the convenience store, should not be counted.”
Rudikoff said other towns count the size of a convenience store by the products that are in it. The Town of Montgomery, he added, does not do that.
Dennis Jamat, owner and representative for the Mobil Gas Station just to the north of Scott’s Corners, said his building is 1,500 square feet.
“That’s including the walk-in cooler, the kitchen, the candies, the water, all of that, the office, the bathroom. That’s including everything. And if you add the canopy, the pumps and the parking lot, that’s less than almost 6,000 square feet right there,“ James said. “ So what they’re trying to say is 6,700 square feet just for the structure, right?
But what will the structure be used for? It’s convenience. That’s what it’s going to be used for. They’re not using it for just the register and all that, they’re using every single thing. Our parking lot and everything included is only less than 6,000 square feet. So are we really helping local businesses or are we helping conglomerates? We’re facing, that’s one of the issues that we’re facing. It’s a big structure that they’re building for convenience.”
Planning Board Chairman Fred Reichle said the public hearing would be adjourned until Wednesday, September 13. He said the ZBA would need to render a decision on the proposed size of the building but cannot do so until the planning board renders its SEQR determination. The applicant has also requested that the town’s engineer review the final set of plans.