MARLBORO – Testimony on an applicant’s plan to construct a Wawa convenience store with a gas station and a medical office building near the intersection of Route 520 and Route 79 was not heard as expected during the June 25 meeting of the Marlboro Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Instead, attorney Edward Liston, who represents the owner of the property next to the site of the proposed development, objected to the application being heard that evening.
Liston said the zoning board had not received a revised plan for the application within 10 days prior to the meeting and therefore the plans were not available to the public for review within the specified time.
Board members agreed with Liston and decided to move the Wawa hearing to their July 9 meeting. Liston initially objected to moving the meeting to July 9 because he has a conflict on that date.
The applicant’s representatives subsequently agreed to provide Liston and his client with a transcript of the July 9 meeting.
Zoning board members told Liston no action on the Wawa application would be taken at the July 9 meeting. They said the hearing would continue on Aug. 13, at which time, Liston would have the opportunity to cross-examine any witnesses who testified on July 9.
It was agreed that if Liston does not receive the transcript of the July 9 meeting by Aug. 3, the Wawa application would not be heard on Aug. 13.
Marlboro North Main, LLC, is the applicant proposing the development.
The application deals with three lots that combine to form a 12.3-acre parcel east of Route 79 and south of Route 520. The lots are in a C-2 commercial zone. Two lots each contain a home and a detached garage. The third lot contains a church/house of worship (the Church of Saint Gabriel) a rectory/parish hall building and a parking area.
Marlboro North Main is seeking permission to remove the existing site improvements on the lots with the homes and garages, to consolidate the three lots and to construct a two-story medical office building (10,092 square feet) and a Wawa convenience store (5,585 square feet) with gasoline fuel service.
Access to the site is proposed on Route 520 and on Route 79.
Wawa is proposed to operate 24 hours a day. Access to the Wawa and the medical office building is proposed from a full-movement driveway on Route 520 at Meglio Drive that would also serve the church property. Right and left turns in and out would be permitted at that location, according to previous testimony.
Access is also proposed from Route 79 at a driveway that would permit right and left turns into the Wawa/medical office building site, but only right turns from the property to Route 79. The applicant has been asked by the New Jersey Department of Transportation to provide a left turn lane from Route 79 into the site.
Information from the zoning board states that “while a personal service use, including a medical office, is a permitted use within a C-2 zone district and a motor vehicle station is a permitted conditional use, the mixed use of the property to contain two principal uses is not permitted; thereby requiring a use variance.”
