HOWELL – Members of the Howell Planning Board have approved the demolition of an abandoned gas station and the construction of a new gas station with a convenience store on property between Route 9 north and Wyckoff Mills Road.
Chairman Brian Tannenhaus, Vice Chairman Nicholas Huszar and board members Paul Dorato, Robert Seaman, John Leggio and David Everett voted to grant preliminary and final site plan approval to the Gill Petroleum application on Dec. 3.
The lot where the development will take place is near The Villages adult community on Wyckoff Mills Road, and Woolley’s Fish Market and Seafood House on Route 9 north.
During previous testimony, representatives of Gill Petroleum said the existing site improvements would be removed and in their place a BP gas station and a 2,700-square-foot convenience store would be constructed. Three new 15,000-gallon underground fuel storage tanks will be installed at the location.
Plans for the new gas station and convenience store show access from Route 9 and from Wyckoff Mills Road, parking spaces for 17 vehicles, a loading area, an enclosed area for trash, an infiltration basin, landscaping, lighting and signs.
Attorney Salvatore Alfieri represented Gill Petroleum at the board’s Dec. 3 meeting.
Alfieri informed the board that attorney Ron Gasiorowski, who represented SAP American Choice Inc., an objector to the Gill Petroleum application, would not be attending the meeting and that SAP American Choice had withdrawn its objection.
SAP American Choice owns an Exxon gas station on Route 9 north at a site that is just north of the proposed BP gas station and convenience store.
Alfieri said Gill Petroleum has agreed to address all of the technical comments that were received from the board’s professional and to have a Licensed Site Remediation Professional on site for all sub-grade construction activity that takes place at the property. The attorney said there will be no indoor seating at the new convenience store.
A crosswalk will be placed on Wycoff Mills Road and sidewalks will be constructed at the property, according to Alfieri.