A Middlesex County Superior Court judge rejected a lawsuit Friday filed by Wawa convenience store against the township Zoning Board of Adjustment.
By:Al Wicklund
MONROE — A Middlesex County Su
perior Court judge rejected a law
suit Friday filed by Wawa
convenience store against the town
ship Zoning Board of Adjust
ment.
The
lawsuit contends that an application
calling for a combination conven
ience store/gas station should be
approved since the board did not
consider the application in a timely
fashion.
Judge
Douglas K. Wolfson denied Wa
wa’s suit and sent the matter back
to the township’s Zoning Board of
Adjustment for a complete hearing,
said Karl Meyertons, Zoning Board
attor
ney.
Judge
Wolfson held an attorneys’ confer
ence Friday afternoon with Mr.
Meyertons and Thomas Farino, the
Wawa law
yer.
Mr. Fari
no could not be reached for com
ment.
Wawa
filed an application with the zoning
board last June for a use variance to
build a convenience store and gas
station with 10 fuel pumps at the
northeast corner of the intersection
of Route 522 and Cranbury-South
River
Road.
The
board denied the application at its
Feb. 28 mee
ting.
Wawa
representatives did not attend the
meeting, but Wawa filed the law
suit in state Superior Court con
tending the township zoning board
had not made a decision on the ap
plication within 120, as required by
law. The application originally was
filed in Ju
ne.
Mr.
Meyertons said at the time the suit
was filed, the zoning board had met
with Wawa officials in June for a
technical review of the proj
ect.
He said
the board asked Wawa for an envi
ronmental report and an alternate
plan showing what the site would
look like without the gas sta
tion.
Mr.
Meyertons said the application
should have been denied in Decem
ber because Wawa failed to pro
duce the report and plan sought by
the board six months earlier.