Public hearing set for April 3
Lea Kahn and T.J. Furman
A public hearing for a proposed ShopRite at the Brunswick Circle has been scheduled for April 3 before the township Planning Board.
Developer Brunswick Circle Associates wants to demolish the former Shop ‘N Bag grocery store at the circle to make way for the new, 80,000-square-foot ShopRite supermarket.
Brunswick Circle Associates will be seeking only a preliminary site plan approval from the Planning Board at the April 3 meeting.
The grocery store is proposed for a 9.6-acre site on the Brunswick Circle bordered by Lawrence Road/Route 206, Princeton Avenue and the Brunswick Circle Extension. In addition to the supermarket, the plans include 9,000 square feet that would be leased to two retail operations.
The new supermarket will be almost four times as large as the Shop ‘N Bag, which is 21,900 square feet. The site also contains a house, which will be torn down to make way for ShopRite.
The would-be developer filed plans for the proposed grocery store with the township’s Department of Community Development on March 9, but those plans were deemed incomplete. The applicant has provided some necessary details since then, but the application is still considered incomplete.
Brunswick Circle Associates is no stranger to the area. It redeveloped the former Budny Tires Store into the CVS drug store on Brunswick Pike. The principals of the Hamilton Township-based Brunswick Circle Associates are Wayne Winderman, Philip J. Vinch Jr., Philip J. Vinch III and David Williamson.
According to the plans on file with the township, access to the site will be provided by three driveways the existing driveway entrance to the Shop ‘N Bag store on Lawrence Road/Route 206, and new entrances on Princeton Avenue and the Brunswick Circle Extension.
The applicant is seeking several variances, including the number of parking spaces and the amount of impervious coverage (building and parking lot).
The township’s Land Use Ordinance requires 465 parking spaces, but 424 spaces are proposed. The maximum impervious coverage is 75 percent of the lot, and 79 percent is proposed.