Having given the once-over to Costco Wholesale Corp.’s plans for a proposed 156,000-square-foot store and an eight-pump gasoline station at its Aug. 21 meeting, the Planning Board Screening Committee is
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Having given the once-over to Costco Wholesale Corp.’s plans for a proposed 156,000-square-foot store and an eight-pump gasoline station at its Aug. 21 meeting, the Planning Board Screening Committee is sending the application to the full Planning Board.
The proposed Costco store would include a bakery, a liquor store, a photo center, an optical kiosk and two optical exam rooms, a pharmacy, a hearing aid center and a tire sales and installation center. It would have 721 parking spaces.
The township Planning Board is expected to hold a public hearing on the application next month. The new store and gasoline station, are planned for a combined 19 acres of the 36-acre tract. The store is planned for a 14.7-acre parcel and the gasoline station is set for a 4.7-acre parcel.
Engineer Russell T. McFall, who represents the applicant, told the Screening Board last week that his client does not know what will be developed on the remaining acreage of the 36-acre parcel.
Walking the Screening Committee through the site, Mr. McFall said access to the development is provided by three driveways — two on Avalon Way and one on Quakerbridge Road. Motorists who want to use the gasoline station will enter off the Quakerbridge Road driveway.
Mr. McFall said the loading dock for the store will face the customer parking lot on Quakerbridge Road — not the rear of the building, where it would be visible to the occupants of the Town Run rental apartment complex. There are plans to supplement the landscaping on the existing berm on Avalon Way to screen it from the apartment complex residents.
Planning Board Screening Committee member Kim Taylor questioned the location of one of the Avalon Way driveways, which is almost directly across from the clubhouse driveway. She pointed to the presence of pedestrians, bicyclists and joggers.
But Mr. McFall said the driveway is necessary at that location. It will not be the main entrance into the Costco development, he said, but it will serve to draw motorists off Lawrence Station Road into the site. Customers who are driving to Costco from neighborhoods off Lawrence Station Road would turn onto Avalon Way and then into the site.
The reason for the driveway is that a small percentage of traffic will be coming from Lawrence Station Road, added traffic engineer Nick Verderese. It would be quicker for the customers to turn onto Avalon Way and then into the Costco site than to continue to Quakerbridge Road and use that driveway, he said.
James Kochenour, the Planning Board’s traffic engineer, said that while the Avalon Way driveway near the clubhouse is a convenience, eliminating it would not remove traffic from Avalon Way. Motorists would use the second Avalon Way driveway, he said.
When Ms. Taylor suggested installing speed humps on Avalon Way to slow down traffic, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun, who also sits on the Planning Board and its Screening Committee, replied that it would be advisable to wait until the development has been completed to get “better results.”
Mr. Verderese also told the Screening Committee that his client would contribute its “fair share” toward the cost of making off-site improvements as a result of the proposed development — most likely at the intersection of Village Road and Quakerbridge Road.
Architect Douglas Brookbank said Costco believes in sustainable design. The new building would be LEED-certified, he said. LEED — or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — standards incorporate “green” building practices into the construction of new buildings.
Mr. Brookbank also told the Screening Committee that the gasoline station would not have a mini-mart attached to it. The use is strictly for gasoline, and that it would only carry gasoline — not diesel fuel. The hoses are long enough so they can be used whether the car’s gasoline tank is on the left side or the right side, he said.