14,690 square-foot Eckerds proposed to be built at intersection of Route 27 and Finnegans Lane.
By: Joseph Harvie
The Zoning Board of Adjustment will determine whether it or the Planning Board has jurisdiction over a proposal to build two office buildings and a pharmacy at the intersection of Route 27 and Finnegans Lane.
Planning Board attorney John Jorgensen ordered the review after Alan Zublatt, a lawyer for residents of Kathy Street and other areas of the Brunswick Acres development near the proposed development, filed an appeal saying the applicant Riya Finnegans LLC of Metuchen is seeking what amounts to a use variance.
Mr. Zublatt, who filed the challenge on Jan. 3, said Wednesday that the proposal was too large for the neighborhood commercial zone, which is where the property is located. He said that the application amounted to a rezoning request.
The Planning Board had been scheduled to hear the application Wednesday night, after the South Brunswick Post’s deadline. That hearing was canceled and a zoning board hearing on jurisdiction has been scheduled for Feb. 17. Once a determination on jurisdiction is made, the proper board will schedule a hearing.
Riya Finnegans is proposing construction of three buildings on the 12.69-acre site, a 14,690-square-foot Eckerd drugstore, a 9,000-square-foot office building and a 40,092-square-foot, two-story office building.
Residents say they oppose the office complex because it could add to existing traffic problems on Route 27 and Finnegans Lane. The residents also say the complex could pose environmental problems and is too close to existing houses.
Mr. Zublatt said the proposal was too large for the neighborhood commercial zone. Under the neighborhood commercial zone, the project should primarily serve the residents of Brunswick Acres. He said the scope of the plans was more consistent with the general retail zone, because the Eckerd is a national retail chain and would bring business from all over South Brunswick and Franklin Park.
"I conclude that it clearly, in my opinion, it was a C-2, general retail use, serving an area greater than the Brunswick Acres community," Mr. Zublatt said Wednesday.
He said the zoning board would rule only on the jurisdiction question on Feb. 17. If the zoning board decides to take jurisdiction, it would schedule a hearing at a later date.
If it determines that the Planning Board should have jurisdiction, he said, the Planning Board would then have a right to review the jurisdiction question, at which point it could retain jurisdiction and hear the application or kick it back to the zoning board. If it kicks it back, he said, the zoning board would have to hear the application.
Township Planner Craig Marshall said Riya Finnegans will have to notify residents who live within 200 feet of the proposed site that there will be a hearing before the zoning board.

