Zoning board hears proposal for Route 30 Wawa again
Page 4 • Wednesday, October 2, 2013 • The Hammonton Gazette
ZONING, from?Page 1
tions in a Gateway Crossing District 3 (GW3) area to the board on april 25, Bellevue
Property associates, LLC. had its revised
plan ready to be considered.
after deliberations concluded during the
april 25 meeting, the board and the representatives of the application decided to table the
discussions and grant a continuation of the
process, moving it to a later date when the applicants could present more details and address existing concerns.
During this September 26 zoning board
meeting, there were five representatives that
were a part of the use variance application
and were ready to provide testimony if
needed. attorney robert W. Bucknam Jr. of
archer & Greiner, project planner timothy
Kernan of Kernan Consulting engineers and
traffic engineer Nicholas Verderese of Dynamite traffic, LLC. were three of the five representatives that spoke during the
proceedings.
attorney robert W. Bucknam Jr. commenced the lengthy testimony by discussing
what had been accomplished during the past
five months. in the proposal, the Wawa food
Market and fuel Station would be built on a
4,670 square-foot site area, and would encompass 50 parking spaces and 12 fuel stations.
“We have addressed various issues. We
had been ready to present this to the board on
a few other occasions, but had a few false
starts and needed to obtain more details. We
believe we have a plan that puts into consideration the new zoning codes,”
Bucknam said.
Bucknam called project planner
timothy Kernan to the podium first.
Kernan explained what each of the
four sets of sketches that he outlined
entailed. the board and public that
were in attendance were able to see
each example of the plan in illustration form. at the end of the testimony, Kernan expressed his belief
that the last sketch was the best fit for
all parties involved.
“the last sketch i feel is the most
appropriate layout for this site. the
Wawa store and f uel island canopy
is in the same location as originally
proposed, but certainly with the architectural improvements to the
building and canopy, which you will
hear further testimony about as well
as to the streetscape. We would have
a brick sign saying “Welcome to the
town of Hammonton,” and i don’t
have that shown in the sketch just
where the piers would be,” Kernan
said.
according to Kernan, the positives of this particular sketch plan
would be shared parking; a downtown-type building on route 54; and
the plan turns and heads in the direction of Bellevue avenue to utilize as
much space as possible, so motorists
can see the downtown as they are
heading in that direction. there is no
building proposed on elvins avenue,
which has residents living in the
area. the most significant buffer to
elvins avenue was outlined in this
sketch, and ample landscaping could
be performed along the streetscape
and White Horse Pike area. this is
where the White Horse Pike, route
206 and 54 (Bellevue avenue) all
come together.
“the multi-tenant parking wouldn’t change and it would be as it is
today. the fuel island would be in
the best location for all concerned.
the Wawa entrance and the fuel
canopy are not in the direct line of
sight of the owners and residents of
elvins avenue. there is good overall
circulation for cars and vehicles that
are going to be delivering goods and
for fuel,” Kernan said.
Bucknam explained that this site
was suited for a Wawa type use.
How that would be suited with the
master plan and taking into consideration the form-Based codes were
other factors that the applicants
needed to prove to the board. the architectural and planning features
were discussed, and the plan would
be a concept architecturally focused
on improving the aesthetics, Bucknam said
the red-brick building style being proposed would be unique, according to Bucknam. it was a trademark of the town dating
back to the 1920s and 1930s.
“this is a trademark of the town of Hammonton. You have the Bank of america
building, Landis title and Bruni’s Pizza and
the red brick is a major architectural feature,
and it is part of the development of Hammonton. red brick homes and red brick has always been an historic feature in the town, and
always recognized as such. this isn’t the only
feature that recognizes the town of Hammonton, but also entrance way to different aspects
of the town. this is a hallmark piece of architecture in the downtown,” Bucknam said.
town engineer Kevin Dixon requested that
Bucknam and his team of planners and engineers perform this demonstration exercise to
the board and public that were in attendance.
Bellevue Property associates, LLC. needed
to show how this would fit into the GW-3
District concept.
“We have designed this to accommodate
the rest of the gateway area. We will address
the lingering concerns more closely in the site
plan review but we are showing how this can
work now,” Bucknam said.
the last sketch would be the best moving
forward, according to Kernan. He believed
that the consolidated plan would make both
the fuel and convenient store uses work, and
the negative impacts have lessened under this
proposal.
traffic engineer Nicholas Verderese
demonstrated the traffic situation on site and
the surrounding areas that would be affected.
Verderese’s role in this developmental plan
was to conduct a general review of the traffic
on site. He stated that the curb cuts on the
White Horse Pike, elvins and Bellevue avenues would be reduced to one.
the board raised questions about turning
left on and off the site, and whether it can be
operated successfully, truck and tractor-
trailer deliveries and the issue of no large
trucks being permitted to park on the site.
“We don’t design for that [large truck parking] anymore. for the past 10-plus years,
Wawa hasn’t been looking to do that, and that
is part of their model now. We just don’t accommodate for truck parking now,”
Verderese said.
Bucknam stated that in order to follow
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