Controversial QuickChek proposal returns to planning board

Posted 7/20/22

QuickChek’s proposal for a gas station and convenience store at Scott’s Corners, having bounced between the Town of Montgomery Planning and Zoning Boards for more than a year, was back …

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Controversial QuickChek proposal returns to planning board

Posted

QuickChek’s proposal for a gas station and convenience store at Scott’s Corners, having bounced between the Town of Montgomery Planning and Zoning Boards for more than a year, was back before the town planning board last week. As the proposal lingers in the town, so does the debate over whether or not it’s just too big.

Kelly Libolt of KARC Planning brought the planning board up to date on the project at last week’s meeting. The original plan, she said, was submitted in late 2020. In February of 2021, it was referred to the ZBA, when it was determined that nine area variances were required. After four hearings, the ZBA referred the project back to the planning board.

“We’re here just to kind of hit the re-set button,” Libolt said.
Tung-To Lam, associate with Bohler Engineering of Warren, NJ, introduced a revised site plan. It shows the 6,730 square-foot building now facing Route 208, instead of 17K. He said the change would minimize impact on adjacent wetland area.

The plan also shows 53 parking stalls, outdoor seating, a canopy for eight gas pumps, lighting that is dark-sky compliant and landscaping “just shy of 300 plants.”

Lam said two of the eight pumps were for low-flow diesel, not suitable for tractor trailers, but for private automobiles.
“It is not a truck stop,” he said adding that you’d sit there all day if you were fueling a tractor trailer.

Inside is an 11-person seating area, coffee bar, soup aisles and a grab and go area. In response to one question about food preparation, Lam explained that it is done on site. Customers can order a specially-made sandwich or select one pre-made in the grab-and-go section.

The conversation eventually turned to the size of the proposed store. Planning Board Member Cheri Zahakos asked what were the sizes of gas stations in the villages. She was told that most - with the possible exception of the Stewarts in Walden - are less than an acre.

“Many applicants have said, we are in compliance with your comprehensive plan.,” Zahakos said. “This is what you say you want when we look at the comprehensive plan for this particular - and I’m sure you know where we are going with this - it says ‘slightly larger’ than a village gas station.”

This proposal, she said, far exceeds the magnitude and intensity that anything would be in a village, and is larger than what is permitted under the Town of Montgomery’s recently-adopted Comprehensive Plan.

“When you look at the comprehensive plan and the zone law, a stand alone convenience store can be no more than - what was it - 2,500 (square feet) under the new law,” Zahakos said. “The codified law, which has not changed, the gas station and convenient market still anywhere you seek that variance. But even above the number of variances which you are asking, which are still in the number greater than a lot of variances before the board, I need to see how this conforms to this comprehensive plan that’s been held up as a banner. It is not slightly larger in magnitude and intensity by what I just inquired. They are half an acre.”

Zahakos said the QuickChek plan far exceed the size of any of the convenience stores she has visited in Montgomery.

“You are far larger than a village,” she said. “This says slightly larger, and not as large as those that used to be in the interchange.”

Zahakos said there is land available on Neelytown Road that might be more adaptable for what they seek.

“Have you looked for any other properties?”

“No,” Lam replied. “This is the application before you. This is the property before you.”

During the recent ZBA discussions, the developer argued that only 1,000 square feet of the indoor space should be designated as a convenience store. The rest includes the seating area, food preparation area and the gas station.

Libolt promised more documentation to show how the proposed project would conform with the comprehensive plan.