Politics & Government

Gas Station/Convenience Store Proposed for Route 9

Environmental and traffic issues bring up early questions for zoning board

A new gas station has been proposed to replace a shuttered station on Route 9 that has become something of an eyesore to passersby.

Applicant Gill Petroleum presented testimony to the zoning Board of Adjustment Monday on its plans to construct a BP gas station and convenience store near Woolley's fish market. As it stands now, the site is overgrown with grass and also has a few items scattered around it that have been dumped there by motorists. 

As the night went on it became clear that this would be the first of several meetings on the application, which also would need to address issues with the state's Department of Transportation and environmental concerns. There also is a list of waivers and variances that the applicant asked for from the board, many of which were addressed at the meeting. 

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The first witness called by the applicant was Kashmir Gill, the vice president of Gill Petroleum, a company that runs 24 stations around the area. The site as it exists now only had a gas station, but Gill said in recent years that has not been feasible to operate in the business he is in. "In the last 10 years the gas station landscape has totally changed. Not just in the state of New Jersey, all over the United States," he said.

Gill said the entire industry has become more competitive as companies such as Costco and WaWa build combination gas stations and stores, which also is why companies such as Exxon have gotten out of the retail business. "Without a convenience store, the gas station doesn't survive," he said. "Gas becomes something that will bring the customer in, and then you try to make money off of your convenience store."

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If the application is approved and the gas station is built, Gill said it would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and would include a total of six pumps, including one for low flow diesel for box trucks and other similar vehicles. The proposed plan also calls for 16 parking spots.

One of the questions asked of Gill was how delivery would work for both the gas itself and the items for the convenience store. In response, Gill said that the fuel trucks would come during the times when traffic would be the lightest, including the early morning hours. As for the food items, those would be delivered by box trucks rather than tractor trailers. 

With employees working one of three eight-hour shifts, there would be three people on each day shift and two on each night shift, Gill added. There would be access to the proposed station not only from Route 9, but also from Wyckoff Road going behind the major roadway.  

After Gill completed his testimony, Mark Malinowski, a civil engineer, went deeper into the plans for the proposed station. One thing that the applicants said set their proposal apart from others is the fact that they are asking to build a station where one had already been, which put some of the pieces they might need in place already.

One of the biggest questions the board had in the early stages of the application was how the station would handle things such as run off and spillage of oil, water, gas and rock salt from not only the pumps, but also the cars using the station. That included the proposed canopy that would be over the pumps and the grading of the road surface. Malinowski said the original plan did not call for changes to the grading of the surface.

When he was informed by members of the board that other gas stations in town, including the Gulf station on Aldrich Road and the WaWa stations, had such systems, Gill said he would look into including that in their plans. That same request is also being put to a group proposing to build a that also is in front of the board.

The proposed convenience store would be a total of 2,520 square feet of the 21,196-square-foot property, which would also factor into the need for many of the variances being applied for. Malinowski said one area that variances would be needed is a front yard setback variance. "Pretty much the whole site is a front yard," he said. That is because it is right between the two roadways. 

Lot coverage would also go over the permitted amount which would require a variance as well as lot frontage. Another possible problem the station faces is its proximity to a nearby Exxon station. Township ordinances require 2500 linear feet between service stations; the two would only be 470 feet apart if approval is given. 

The meeting adjourned with the application scheduled to be heard again at a meeting in September.


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