LAWRENCE: Mrs. G project back before zoning board

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   The Zoning Board of Adjustment will pick up where it left off next week when it continues its review of a proposal to redevelop a 16-acre parcel on the corner of Route 1 and Bakers Basin Road, anchored by the Mrs. G TV and Appliance store.
   The zoning board will meet Wednesday at 8 p.m. to listen to more testimony from applicant 2012 Lawrenceville Associates LLC. The meeting will be held in the lower level conference room at the Municipal Building.
   The developer wants to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with two retail buildings of 6,000 square feet and 15,000 square feet, respectively, plus a TD Bank, a McDonald’s and a Wawa store with gas pumps.
   The application is in front of the zoning board because a conditional use variance is needed. Combined convenience stores and service stations are not permitted in the Highway Commercial zone. Wawa wants to build a store with 16 fuel pumps on the site.
   Additional variances are needed because the township’s land use ordinance permits a maximum of three buildings on a parcel in the Highway Commercial zone, but five are proposed — Wawa, McDonald’s, TD Bank and the two retail buildings. One of the retail buildings will house the Mrs. G TV and Appliance store.
   Civil engineer Charles Olivo, who represents the applicant, walked the zoning board through the application at its July 18 meeting. Zoning board members did not have enough time to ask questions of Mr. Olivo, but they will have an opportunity at next week’s meeting.
   Testimony next week also is expected to focus on traffic issues. The application proposes several improvements to roads surrounding the property, including the elimination of the jughandle off Route 1 onto Bakers Basin Road.
   The jughandle will be replaced by a connector road at the rear of the proposed development. Three driveway entrances along the connector road would provide access to the development, plus one driveway on Route 1. The connector road would be built and maintained by the developer.