FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – An applicant’s plan to construct a Shake Shack restaurant in Freehold Township was met with questions, but no immediate strong objections, from members of the Freehold Township Planning Board during the panel’s May 3 meeting.
Leemilt’s Petroleum Inc., the owner of the property, is seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval to construct a 3,514-square-foot Shake Shack on property that previously housed a Getty gas station at 4431 Route 9 north. The site is also bordered by Craig and Pond roads.
Attorney John Giunco, representing the applicant, presented professionals who testified approval is being sought to demolish existing structures associated with the gas station and to construct a restaurant.
Giunco said the property “has been the subject of numerous condemnation attempts by the state as it has done work at the intersection” of Route 9, Pond and Craig roads. Over time, the taking of property by the state has reduced the parcel from 1.63 acres as late as 1998 to its current size of 0.89 acres, he said.
The property is in Freehold Township’s Corporate Multi-Use Development Zone-3/A. Leemilt’s Petroleum is requesting conditional use variance relief to construct a restaurant with 84 seats where 125 seats is the conditional use requirement for a family-style restaurant in the CMX-3/A zone.
The applicant is also requesting relief from the board in order to provide a lot size of 0.89 acres where a minimum of 3 acres is required; and relief from a municipal ordinance that requires a minimum size of the principal building of 5,000 square feet, where 3,514 square feet is proposed for the restaurant.
Civil engineer Robert Streker, testifying on behalf of the applicant, said underground tanks and pipes associated with the previous gas station use have been removed. He called the property “ripe for development.” It was noted that the Freehold Township Environmental Commission did not express any concerns with the Shake Shack application.
Streker said the restaurant will be at the north end of the site, closest to the jughandle that carries traffic from Route 9 north to Pond Road. The 0.89-acre property includes 479 square feet in Manalapan on which no development is proposed. The land in Manalapan borders the jughandle.
Traffic will circulate in one direction – counterclockwise – upon entering the site from Pond Road. The former entrance to the gas station from Route 9 will be closed and the perimeter of the site will be landscaped, he said.
“We carefully reviewed the property and how it could be used,” Streker said. “We believe the building is correctly sized and we believe it will be a benefit to the community.”
He testified that trash pickup will occur two or three times a week before the restaurant opens. Tractor-trailers will not make deliveries to the restaurant; smaller trucks will make the deliveries prior to the business day, Streker said.
Board members asked general questions about vehicle circulation on the site. They did not raise significant opposition to the plan for deliveries, garbage and recycling pickups, or the site circulation.
In response to a question about whether the applicant looked for other locations in Freehold Township, Giunco said, “My client looked at other sites in the township and chose this one.” Given a choice, he said, his client would have preferred to construct a 4,000-square-foot restaurant.
The next witness, architect Michael Davis, said since the application was submitted to the township, the applicant revised the look of the restaurant to “a simple rectangular building with a limited color palette of warm gray and charcoal black. This redesign (of the building) is far more consistent with the township’s ordinance.”
The use of brick on the building, he said, “is a total change from the Shake Shack prototype.” In addition, Davis said the applicant will not use the restaurant chain’s fluorescent green hamburger logo on its signs at the location.
Freehold Township’s municipal code calls for buildings to have a colonial appearance, and limited colors and corporate logos on building signs.
Davis described the building’s use as a “fast casual style restaurant” where the kitchen will be visible to patrons. There will not be an area with video games and there will not be a drive-up window. Guests who want to take out food will enter the restaurant, place their order and wait for their food, he said.
Corey Chase, a senior project manager with Atlantic Traffic and Design, said he performed a traffic impact analysis at the location. He said during the restaurant’s peak hours of operation (evenings and Saturday), there will be a short increase in the delay for motorists at the adjacent signalized intersections. Chase said there will not be “significant degradation” of the situation on Pond Road.
Andrew Feranda, the board’s traffic engineer, said the traffic signal will allow the light to process the traffic, including vehicles going to and coming from Shake Shack.
Regarding closing the Route 9 access to the site, Feranda said the New Jersey Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction on Route 9 and Pond Road, “took the better option for the driveway. Vehicles will be traveling at a lower speed on Pond Road. Closing the Route 9 access made sense to the DOT. There will not be any more conflict points (with buses entering a bus stop in front of the property) on Route 9. This is a unique property, especially after the DOT improvements and the land takings.”
It was noted that motorists heading east on Craig Road will have to turn onto Route 9 north and take the jughandle to reach Pond Road and Shake Shack. Motorists heading east on Craig Road will not be able to cross Route 9, continue on Craig Road, turn left onto Pond Road and left into Shake Shack. Left turns are prohibited from Craig Road to Pond Road, according to board members.
Board members continued to discuss access to the site and questioned how motorists coming north on the highway would know they will have to take the jughandle from Route 9 to Pond Road in order to enter Shake Shack.
Rich Gatto, the board’s chairman, asked Giunco to investigate whether a sign could be posted on Route 9 that would direct motorists to use the jughandle to reach the restaurant.
No one from the public questioned the applicant’s witnesses when given the opportunity to do so.
The applicant is proposing to provide 63 parking spaces (61 parking spaces are required) at the site. Restaurant hours would be from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Shake Shack, if approved, will not have a liquor license.
The application was carried to the board’s June 7 meeting.
