By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Zoning Board of Adjustment expects to wrap up its public hearing and vote on an application to redevelop the Mrs. G’s TV and Appliance property, on the corner of Route 1 and Bakers Basin Road, Wednesday night.
The 7 p.m. meeting will be held in the lower level conference room at the Municipal Building. The zoning board will listen to additional testimony and then open the meeting for public comment. After the board hears comments from the public, it expects to take action on the application.
Next week’s meeting will be the 12th one since the zoning board began the series of public hearings in July 2012.
Applicant 2012 Lawrenceville Associates LLC 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 and a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant. A Wawa convenience store with gas pumps also is proposed.
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 convenience 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, while five are proposed — Wawa, McDonald’s, TD Bank and the two retail buildings. One of the retail buildings will house the Mrs. G’s TV and Appliance store.
One of those additional variances may be a conditional use variance, because the development may be considered a shopping center rather than a development of five individual permitted uses. A shopping center requires a minimum lot size of 20 acres, but the parcel is 11.4 acres.
Among the improvements associated with the project is the elimination of the jug-handle on Route 1 and Bakers Basin Road. The jug-handle will be replaced by a connector road at the rear of the proposed redevelopment. Three driveway entrances along the connector road would provide access to the site, plus one driveway on Route 1. The connector road would be built and maintained by the applicant.
