PNC bank drive-through on Route 206 also gets OK
By: Marjorie Censer
The Regional Planning Board of Princeton approved changes for Olives, the take-out deli and bakery on Witherspoon Street, and for a PNC Bank branch on Route 206 on Thursday.
Both applications were approved unanimously by the board.
Olives plans to expand its business to the vacant location next door to its current space, adding 2,040 square feet. The changes will be entirely internal as Olives reshapes the space to relieve congestion in its present 1,005-square-foot location.
Owner Adam Angelakis said the new space will better accommodate customers and employees. There will be a series of openings between the two stores to allow flow between them. The prepared food offerings will be better organized in the lengthened counter space sandwiches will be available in the present space, hot foods in the middle and salads on the far end of the counter in the new space. There will also be an additional prep kitchen with a walk-in cooler.
"This expansion is really not just for the public, but also for my employees," Mr. Angelakis said. "It’s just very tight in that kitchen."
The expansion will allow for hiring two more employees who will either walk from the John-Witherspoon neighborhood or park on the street behind St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, Olives representatives said.
The board members were generally favorable to the application, although board member Wendy Benchley questioned the parking needs of the business for employees and for loading trucks.
Mr. Angelakis told the board that deliveries are made between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. to avoid Witherspoon Street traffic. Olives uses the loading zone in front of its present store for stocking its vans which are parked in the Hulfish Street parking garage when not in use.
"I think the town can accommodate a larger take-out service, and so I’d be in favor of it," Ms. Benchley said.
The PNC Bank application went less smoothly, as several neighbors showed up to voice complaints. The approved plan allows the bank to add a two-lane drive-through and reconfigure the parking lot to have 57 parking spaces.
Though the loop road planned for the Route 206 site, located between Herrontown and Cherry Valley roads, was not part of the application, the plan proposed by PNC Bank saves space for it. Reserved would be 8,100 square feet for the future construction of a loop road that would operate as an informal jug handle. It would be intended to mitigate traffic congestion at Route 206 and Cherry Valley Road.
The bank also agreed to either construct or make an in-kind contribution to Princeton Township for sidewalks on Cherry Valley Road and Route 206. Township Engineer Robert Kiser recommended the township wait for the construction of the loop road before building the sidewalks.
Neighboring residents at the meeting spoke out against the loop road, but board members told the residents the application was for PNC Bank not the road.
The bank agreed to follow the recommendations of the Landscape Subcommittee in creating buffer zone, and the board unanimously approved the application.

