By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
For lack of a sidewalk, Starbucks almost fell short of gaining approval May 18 to build a free-standing store in the parking lot of the Hillsborough Centre, anchored by the Stop and Shop supermarket, at 649 Route 206.
Starbucks ultimately gained an unanimous vote, 6-0, but not before its engineers sketched — on the fly — changes to the proposed parking area in order to allow for a sidewalk to be built that would lead directly from the coffee shop to the Stop ‘n’ Shop supermarket.
Starbucks will construct a one-story building with a drive-thru off the center’s southerly access road off Route 206, near the free-standing Wells Fargo bank.
Starbucks would relocate about 100 yards away from the end unit of the adjacent Nelson’s Corner Shopping Center.
The Starbucks building falls in the township’s Town Center zone, a master plan concept that envisions a built-up downtown area around the intersection of Route 206 and Amwell Road.
Starbucks asked for relief from some of the Town Center zone’s provisions. It will be 292 feet from Route 206, with a detention basin between it and the highway, and thus farther than five feet that is the maximum setback in the zone (a provision that aims to foster a downtown look.) Starbucks won’t have a second or third floor with a business, office or apartment above it — another Town Center idea.
One thing Starbucks could do, zoning board members seemed to agree, was to meet the Town Center goal of encouraging pedestrian and bicycling circulation within the parking lot area.
Starbucks traffic engineer Gary Dean hesitated, saying that eliminating six parking spaces between the store and the supermarket would effectively kill the application because the shopping center owner would never agree.
Board members Helen Haines and chairman Steven Sireci Jr. insisted the sidewalk would be safer for pedestrians and partially achieve the Town Center’s objective of “connectivity.”
Dr. Sireci said he thought the supermarket would welcome the idea of a “synergy” of customers moving around the center and going to and from the coffee house. He questioned why six spots were so crucial when most of the lot was empty much of the time and the total site still had 87 more spaces than required.
Board attorney Mark Anderson noted the resistance was economics, and not one of land use, and thus would hold lesser weight with the board.
In the audience Mr. Dean hastily took a copy of the site plan and sketched a redesign that provided a direct sidewalk, yet kept the number of parking spaces intact. The board ultimately approved the application pending the redrawn engineering plan.
Starbucks did come to the meeting with revisions that reduced the amount of signs on the buildings and site. At the March 2 meeting, zoning board members thought there were too many signs.
At that meeting architect Melanie Soos said the use of signs with the company name or mermaid-like meme were needed to attract attention from traffic coming from many directions.
The building would be 71 by 24 feet, plus an outdoor patio, on 0.44 acres of the 18.1 acres of Hillsborough Centre. The applicant is the shopping center and the attorney and landowner is Robert Simon, based in Warren.
