By Frank Mustac, Contributor
Plans for the construction of a CVS Pharmacy at the site of the current Sonoco gas station at the intersection of Route 31 and Ingleside Avenue have undergone revisions and have since been put before the Hopewell Township Zoning Board.
For approximately five hours, roughly 30 residents from the township, as well as Pennington Borough, came out on Tuesday to hear those plans during the zoning board meeting.
According to CVS representatives, the new proposal calls for a smaller structure than the one proposed in March, with fewer parking spaces and the construction of a sound barrier wall.
The CVS Pharmacy company is part of the giant CVS Health corporation, which operates thousands of drug stores throughout the United States.
The size of the Sunoco gas station site is 2.40 acres in total, with 2.25 acres located in Hopewell Township and 0.15 acres in Pennington. The property sits in an R100 residential zone. CVS is asking for several variances to the residential zoning requirements.
Plans presented by CVS representatives on Tuesday call for a store with a building footprint of just under 12,000 square feet in size, with a pharmacy drive-through window.
Back in March, CVS had proposed to construct a larger 14,600-square-foot building.
“This is going to be an attractive building. It’s going to have a nice pitched roof associated with it,” John McDonough, a professional planner representing CVS, said.
He explained that the exterior of the structure is compatible with the residential character of the surrounding neighborhood. CVS originally proposed a building with a flat roof.
The revised plans also calls for 50 parking spaces at the site, which is a reduction from 60 spaces previously requested by the applicant.
Two access drives, one for Route 31 and another for Ingleside Avenue, are also being proposed.
A new addition to the plan, however, is the proposed 12-foot-high sound barrier wall designed to reduce noise reaching homes adjacent to the site.
In previous meetings, individuals expressed their concerns over the potential noise levels produced by delivery trucks, trash collection vehicles and the general operation of the pharmacy and retail store.
The wall would be largely screened from view using trees and landscaping, Mr. McDonough said.
Hours of operation for the proposed store are 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Sunday. The proposed hours for the pharmacy drive-through window are Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sundays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Walter Bliss, attorney for Pennington Borough, questioned Mr. McDonough following the professional planner’s testimony to the Zoning Board.
During his testimony, Mr. McDonough stated that a CVS pharmacy and store is a better use for the site than the current gas station, but the Pennington attorney sought to challenge that opinion.
Asked by Mr. Bliss whether a comparison of the anticipated noise levels from the proposed CVS site to the current noise levels produced by operations at the current gas station was undertaken, Mr. McDonough said that noise calculations were made for the proposed CVS store, but not for the gas station.
From the cross examination, it was also learned that there are 26 parking spaces currently permitted at the gas station — about half the number proposed for the CVS store.
During his questioning, Mr. Bliss also highlighted that the proposed impervious coverage for the CVS site is 50.4 percent, while the current impervious coverage at the gas station is 27 percent.
Some members of the public asked CVS representatives about the potential traffic that would be generated as a result of the project, and what changes to the intersection would have to made to accommodate traffic in and out of the store site.
Representatives said that the pharmacy would generate 43 vehicle trips per hour.
If the Hopewell Township Zoning Board approves the variances requested by CVS, the applicant will then request the New Jersey Department of Transportation to install a full traffic light at the corner of Route 31 and Ingleside Avenue, with the possibility that one or both roads could be widened at the intersection.
Route 31 is a state road, while Ingleside Avenue is owned and maintained by Mercer County.
By the end of the meeting, CVS attorney Henry Kent-Smith, of the Fox Rothchild law firm, surprised board members and the audience with his announcement that the applicant plans to purchase the property outright instead of leasing the property, as indicated previously.
The Hopewell Township Planning Board announced it will hold at least two more hearings on the CVS application, one on Dec. 6 at 6:30 p.m. and another on Dec. 14 at 6 p.m.
