Foodtown makes a pitch for Millstone location
Public hoping for more time to comment at
April 29 hearing
MILLSTONE — The Zoning Board of Adjustment sat through three hours of presentation and testimony Monday on an application to build a two-phase shopping center at the intersection of routes 526 and 571, with Norkus Foodtown as its anchor.
Residents who attended to comment were disappointed they were only allotted 10 minutes.
John Finley, of Carrs Tavern Road, who sits on the Environmental Commission and the Planning Board, chided board Chairman George Gilbert for allowing so little time for comment, saying he would ask for more time at the next meeting to present his comments about the proposed project.
"Believe me, I could use a good three hours myself," he said.
Jim Matthew, of Patterson Lane, commented on the fact that within a radius of 10 miles, there are several large supermarkets in surrounding communities. He also said he would like to challenge the demographic and environmental findings of the applicants.
Alan Wisneski, also Patterson Lane, summed up the feelings of a number of residents by saying, "I didn’t move here to have a supermarket built on top of me."
The applicant, Millstone Center Associates, is represented by attorney Kenneth Pape.
The Norkus family owns the Foodtown supermarkets at Raintree Center on Route 537 in Freehold Township, on Park Avenue in Freehold, and at Route 9 and Tennent Road in Manalapan, among others.
The county roads are also known as Trenton-Lakewood Road and Millstone Road, and that intersection currently has a Dairy Queen, a medical office and a KinderCare center, the result of an approved application for construction five years ago.
The property for the proposed construction consists of more than nine acres, all part of the neighborhood commercial (NC) zone, which allows for a mixture of homes and commercial businesses, with the stipulation that each business is not to exceed 4,000 square feet. The construction of a supermarket would require a use variance, because the proposed structure measures 50,000 square feet.
The design plans show the supermarket in the center, flanked by two smaller stores on one side and one on the other. External design consists of red used or tumbled brick, tan stucco, a charcoal standing seam roof, and white trim. A tower on a portion of the building would reach 35 feet.
The rear of the buildings would have parking, or bay areas, for eight trucks, accessible by a roadway leading from the entrance off Trenton-Lakewood Road, curving around the back, continuing to the front of the property and exiting onto Trenton-Lakewood Road. The road is planned as a two-way road and would afford customers access to the parking area at the front of the building.
Peter Strong, of Crest Engineering, Hightstown, made a general presentation of the plans, with an aerial view of the property and renderings of the finished construction, with parking stalls, landscaping, storm water basin, and a retaining wall at the back of the property all shown.
Conservation easements, which are in place for the existing buildings on the adjacent property, would extend around the new construction plans as well.
The requirement of a larger septic system is covered by approval by the county Health Department of a 6,200-gallon tank for the first phase of construction. A second tank would be required for the second phase, involving the adjoining smaller stores.
Kenneth Fears, president of Oracle Engineering, addressed traffic elements, stating that the amount of traffic generated would not, in his opinion, put a burden on the intersection or the surrounding roads, and would not involve peak hours of concentrated traffic.
Paul Phillips, a planner from New Brunswick, testified that he surveyed and inspected the area, drove through the township, checked the demographics, and prepared a fiscal analysis for the project.
He contended the site is an ideal location for the supermarket because of its location at the intersection of two county roads, its close proximity to routes 537 and 195, and because it is the only one of three NC zoned areas with an unencumbered site large enough to hold a supermarket.
The site of the proposed construction would almost entirely fill in the NC zone in that area, with the exception of one residence at the periphery, on Trenton-Lakewood Road.
The owners of that home, Gene and Nicole Pucci, were in attendance but didn’t speak publicly. According to Nicole Pucci, "We moved here to get away from all of this; now here it is right on top of us. I’m so upset over this." Gene Pucci explained that the proposed septic system would be installed close to their property.
The next meeting date was fixed for April 29, an extra session for the board, to accommodate the schedules of the applicants, their experts, and the board members. Members of the Norkus family, who didn’t have a chance to speak, promised to return at that time.