Zoning Board must deny Dunkin’ Donuts proposal

I was quite shocked to open another newspaper recently and see an article titled "Drive-Through Foes Still Angry" regarding the recent East Brunswick Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting.

I was at that Zoning Board meeting, and it was clearly the board members and the "expert" witnesses (who, by the way, are paid by Bentley Realty Group, the people who want to put in a drive-through Dunkin’ Donuts) who were angry. They were angry that they could not convince the residents about all the good things Dunkin’ Donuts was going to do for us.

I cannot believe there is going to be a fifth meeting on April 15. If the board did its job, there should not have even been a second meeting. This application should have been dismissed. The Dunkin’ Donuts does not fit into the limited space, it is short so many parking spaces, the 25-foot setback is in some spaces only 10 feet, etc., etc., etc.

After being at these board meetings, I can only conclude that the board has instructions that it must by hook or by crook get that Dunkin’ Donuts in that little space. For every objection, all the "experts" had an implausible explanation, and then they tried to convince us, the silly neighbors, that Dunkin’ Donuts would bend over backward for us.

With the money being spent to make sure another Dunkin’ Donuts gets into East Brunswick, what do you think will happen when we complain of the rats, noise, lights, smell and garbage all over? We would all be dead and buried before anything would be done for us against big Dunkin’ Donuts.

Steve Philips, chairman of the Zoning Board, told us frequently that if there are 10 fast-food restaurants in a row and the 11th one wanted to come on board, the board can’t deny them. That is all well and good, but if they met the criteria, they would not now be going before the board.

Dunkin’ Donuts fails miserably in trying to fit 10 pounds of sugar into a 5-pound bag. I am now asking the members of the board to do the job they were appointed to do — to protect the citizens of East Brunswick from companies moving in and clearly violating the very ordinances put into effect for our protection.

This application must be denied.

Sheila Masterson

East Brunswick