Hamilton rejects developer’s new Wawa plan
HAMILTON >> Denied!
A developer’s proposed application to build a super Wawa convenience store with 12 fuel pumps at the intersection of Quakerbridge and Flock roads went down in flames Tuesday night as the Hamilton Township Zoning Board of Adjustment voted it down unanimously.
Hamilton Quakerbridge LLC since at least 2014 has introduced, tweaked and modified its proposed super Wawa development plan in hopes of gaining township approval, but concerns over the project’s total intensity and its potential impact upon traffic safety ultimately led to its demise.
The proposed application before the zoning board called for the construction of an approximately 4,700-square-foot Wawa with 12 fuel pumps and a 9,500-square-foot liquor store on a parcel of highway-commercial land owned by Pioneer Family LLC. The plan deviated far from compliance with Hamilton’s master plan and zoning regulations, so the developer went before the zoning board seeking special permission to be exempt from the rules.
The developer requested a use variance and other technical exemptions as it sought preliminary and final site approval of its super commercial plan —a plan far more intense than the current low-key liquor store that operates at the bustling intersection of Quakerbridge and Flock roads.
A hard sell, Hamilton Quakerbridge LLC assembled a powerhouse team comprising a professional planner, traffic expert, professional engineer and seasoned attorney in hopes of convincing the zoning board that the proposed super Wawa would promote redevelopment and traffic safety improvements.
Gary Forshner, an attorney representing the applicant, conceded the intersection of Quakerbridge and Flock roads is troublesome. “We don’t have the obligation to cure every ill with regard to this intersection. It is a tough intersection,” he said, adding, “We are improving the safety, and we are reducing the average delay.”
“There will still be accidents,” Forshner said at Tuesday’s zoning board meeting, “but there will likely be fewer than there is today, which is not something that we have to establish but something this application will accomplish.”
Traffic expert Maurice Rachee testified to the zoning board, providing the body with data from the New Jersey Department of Transportation showing the intersection of Quakerbridge and Flock roads had 23 motor vehicle accidents in 2015 followed by 13 accidents in 2016 and 17 accidents in 2017. He also presented crash data for the years 2011 through 2013.
Board members, however, expressed steep skepticism over the data Rachee provided and grilled him over why he did not get accident data from the Hamilton Township Police Department. Zoning board members also mentioned that Mercer County currently rates the Quakerbridge Road and Flock Road intersection a failing “F” grade and questioned how much the Wawa plan would improve the traffic conditions.
“As a resident of this town, I’ll take any improvement that is at this intersection. I’d welcome it,” Rachee said. “I can’t think of any application that is going to fix all the ills here. This application is doing a lot to improve, in my opinion, most of the concerns that the board has raised.”
“It is a busy intersection,” Rachee added. “We are doing a lot to mitigate our impact and improve safety.”
Several members of the public delivered public comments opposing the super Wawa application Tuesday night.
Citing concerns over traffic and the potential impact the proposed development could have on surrounding businesses, “I don’t think we need this in this area,” township resident Richard Brihn said. “As great of a company as Wawa is, this is not the place for it. … To squeeze them into a place where it really doesn’t fit doesn’t make sense.”
Township resident Cynthia Simon said “Wawa is great” but added, “I think we are getting oversaturated with Wawas in the Hamilton community.”
The 40-square-mile township currently has a super Wawa gas station market at 1200 State Highway 33 in Hamilton Square and at 3817 Crosswicks-Hamilton Square Road off Route 130. Hamilton also boasts small Wawa shops at 2004 Nottingham Way and 3800 Quakerbridge Road.
Township resident David Henderson, who livestreamed the zoning board hearing on Facebook, said the applicant used traffic data from the New Jersey Department of Transportation rather than the Hamilton Township Police Department because the township has reported “more accidents in their database that are not included in the DOT database.”
Being asked to approve a highly intense commercial operation at a troubled intersection, the zoning board could not support the application as proposed.
“To me,” board member James L. Kochenour said, “this is a textbook example of an applicant trying to have the site fit their development instead of having the development fit the site. It is just there is too much development on this site for the size of the property unfortunately being proposed.”
“I can’t support the variance request for the buffer nor can I support the variance request for the setback,” he added. “To me, it just screams too much development, overdevelopment.”
Board member Barry J. Zadworny gave similar remarks: “The application taken as a whole does not, in my opinion, address the public good,” he said.