Zoners OK diner on Rt. 1

Variance approved for New Road diner

By: Joseph Harvie
   The Zoning Board of Adjustment on Nov. 16 voted 6-1 to approved a use variance to allow a diner to be built near the intersection of Route 1 and New Road.
   Dimitrios Dimitrakis, of North Brunswick, will build the 6,000-square-foot diner on a 2.066-acre site on the south side of Route 1 just south of the intersection.
   A variance was needed because the parcel is zoned the Office Research, which allows executive offices and high-tech research facilities to be built, but not diners. A variance was also needed because the zone usually requires 3-acre lots.
   The property is adjacent to an Office Park zone in the south, a Residential zone in the east and a General Commercial zone across the highway.
   Variances were also granted because the building and parking area are proposed to be built within 100 feet of a residential zone, and to allow for more than 55 percent of the property to be impervious, 65 percent is proposed.
   A variance was also granted to allow the building to be 391.39 feet from Route 1, where 400 feet is required. The diner also is proposed to be built 186.92 feet from New Road, instead of the required 300 feet.
   Plans for the diner call for two entrances, one on Route 1 north about 400 feet from the intersection of New Road, and one on New Road, about 60 feet from the jughandle on New Road from Route 1, according to the application.
   The plans also call for a tree line to be planted and a wooden board-on-board fence to be built along the back of the lot, to block it from the view of residences down New Road, according to the plans.