Fight for Quick Chek Construction Rages On

The battle for Quick Chek continues.

The Howell Township Zoning Board of Adjustment heard more testimony Monday on an application seeking a use variance and preliminary site plan approval to construct a Quick Check outlet and gas station on a 2.7-acre lot at the corner of Route 33 and Colts Neck Road.

The applicant needs to seek out a use variance because construction of a gas station is not permitted in the proposed HD-3 Zone. Therefore, testimony convincing the board of the benefits of a gas station and convenience store being built at the suggested site have continued since September. 

Attorney Henry Kent-Smith of the law firm Fox-Rothschild, LLP appeared on behalf of the applicant. 

After listening to the concerns and comments from the , Planning Engineer Jeffrey Martell of Bohler Engineering reviewed changes made to the site in response to those concerns. 

The first right ingress driveway on Route 33 was removed, Martell explained. The elimination of this driveway triggered several other minor changes to the property design. 

“The other change, by eliminating this driveway, we were allowed to make was relocating the underground storage tanks,” Martell said.  “We heard a lot of concern as it relates to when the fuel truck is unloading to the underground storage tanks—what impact would that have on the operation. We heard concerns regarding the parking spaces and the remaining circulation areas whether they were adequate.”   

The tanks were moved to the northern property line adjacent to the Route 33 frontage, Martell said.

This new location moves the underground storage units away from the parking spaces, which they were adjacent to previously. 

Additionally, the removal of the driveway will provide the site with a larger circulation pattern. The fuel truck will now have a space of 44 feet to unload, whereas the truck had  only 35 feet to unload in the original site plan. 

The Route 33 driveway will have a mountable island, or a sloped curb, in the center of the driveway. This island will be easy for a WD-50 truck to drive over in order to turn into the gas station, but a normal car will be unable to drive over it. 

The mountable island discourages drivers from making a prohibited left turn, while also adhering to Department of Transportation guidelines and allowing larger vehicles to turn into the station, Martell said. 

The hearing continued with testimony from Christine Cofone, a licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey and owner of Cofone Consulting Group. 

Cofone offered the board testimony from a planning perspective as to why the variance should be granted and why the Quick Chek would be beneficial to both the applicant and the community. 

The most significant benefit of the construction will be the implementation of a traffic signal on the corner, which will be paid for by the applicant, Cofone said. Signalizing this corner will be valuable to the community, to Quick Chek, as well as to the competing gas station across the street. 

Cofone asserts that the location on a busy highway corridor and on a corner is the perfect place for construction, since 80 percent of the traffic that will visit the site will be coming off planned trips on the roadway. 

Furthermore, Cofone said that there are no other convenience store and quick service food options for miles in either direction of the site--and no other option to get fresh produce and food on Route 33.

“The Western Monmouth Development plan envisioned that the Route 33 corridor would be a place for development,” Cofone said. “So, the HD-3 Zone does permit restaurants, although it doesn’t permit this use.”

A number of other towns have not caught up their zoning laws with the introduction of hybrid gas station-convenience stores, according to Cofone. The purpose of prohibiting gas stations in the HD-3 Zone is to prevent noxious gas station repair shops from being constructed. 

Petroleum-19, the gas station located across the street from the applicant’s proposed site, was already in existence before the HD-3 Zoning laws banned gas stations.  

“The traffic that is in and around this use, the desire to be on the corner, the size of this property, the growth that is occurring in this area—all those things would make the property suitable for this type of use,” Cofone said. 

Cofone did not have anything negative to say about the implementation of the Quick Chek at this location, but rather says it conforms and fulfills the fundamentals of the Howell Township Master Plan.

Board member Stephen Meier, however, was not buying her argument, calling it a “sugar-coated presentation.” Meier told Cofone that he wanted to see a comparison as to what could be constructed on the property that is permitted within the zoning laws. 

“We are here to see if we can grant relief to the ordinance as the Master Plan, we should have everything we need here to do that,” Meier said. “You are going to put this application in the best possible light.”

Quick Chek’s testimony will continue on March 28. Cofone will present to the board comparison yields so that the board can better determine whether a variance should be granted.