By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Opponents of a proposed application to redevelop a 16-acre parcel on the corner of Route 1 and Bakers Basin Road, which is currently anchored by the Mrs. G’s TV & Appliance store, outlined some of their arguments before the township Zoning Board of Adjustment last week.
Applicant 2012 Lawrenceville Associates LLC is seeking a conditional use variance to permit a combined convenience store and gasoline station on the site, which is in the Highway Commercial zone. Wawa wants to build a store with 16 fuel pumps, but the zoning does not permit it.
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. Five buildings are proposed Wawa, McDonald’s, TD Bank and two retail buildings. One of the retail buildings will house the Mrs. G’s TV & appliance store.
At the Jan. 30 meeting, planner David Zimmerman, who represents opponent BSA Oil Corp. the owner of the Shell gasoline station on the corner of Brunswick Pike and Franklin Corner Road argued against the conditional use variance to permit a combined convenience store and service station in the Highway Commercial zone.
Mr. Zimmerman said convenience stores are permitted in the Neighborhood Commercial-1 and Neighborhood Commercial-2 zones, but not in the Highway Commercial zone. He pointed out that a combined convenience store and service station is not permitted in any zoning district in Lawrence.
The planner also argued that the overall development is not a mixed-use commercial development, which is what the applicant is calling it. The proposed development is a shopping center, he said, which means the applicant should seek a use variance because it does not meet minimum standards.
”I think it is a use variance (because) it is so violative of the requirements for a shopping center. The site cannot accomplish what is being proposed,” Mr. Zimmerman said. Those requirements include a minimum lot size of 20 acres not the 16 acres that the property contains.
The applicant is asking for too much to be built on a small lot, he said, adding that the zoning board is being asked to rezone the property through the granting of variances. Instead, the property is “the perfect candidate” to be designated as an area in need of redevelopment by the township because of the vacant buildings on the land and the size of the parcel, he said. Different standards would apply.
Another alternative is to have the property rezoned, Mr. Zimmerman said. It should be rezoned by Township Council, not through variances granted by the zoning board, he said, adding that seeking to have it rezoned would be a “better strategy” for the applicant.
But Zoning Board of Adjustment Vice-Chairman Peter Kremer requested that Mr. Zimmerman “stick to the facts.” It’s an interesting discussion, he said, but it may not be germane to the application in front of the zoning board.
The zoning board and the applicant agreed to continue the public hearing next month.

