Fight against Super Wawa not just about profits Business owners need cash fast for legal battle BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer BRICK TOWNSHIP - Eight hundred dollars and counting. That's all that was left last week in a special checking account set up to help a group of Mantoloking Road businesses in their fight to keep a proposed 24-hour Wawa store and gas station out of their neighborhood. "We need all the help we can get," said Lisa Wheeler, a co-owner of Joe's Service Center, which sits across the street from the proposed Wawa site. Wheeler, her husband, Bill, and brother Jeffrey Bevacqua, who own and operate the 50-year-old service center and gasoline station, got their first hint that things were about to change last summer. That's when an employee who worked for a contractor walked across the street to tell them someWawa officials were looking at the property. The notice about the project, which was sent to all property owners within 200 feet of the proposed application, came in January, 10 days before the first Board of Adjustment meeting. Wheeler, her husband and brother didn't waste any time. They copied the legal notice, then paid their employees to deliver fliers to Mantoloking Road businesses and residents in the surrounding area outside the 200-foot radius. "This is still the same small-town, seaside community it was 20 or 30 years ago," Wheeler said, in between taking care of customers at the repair shop last week. "The businesses haven't changed much. People say they could leave, come back 10 years later, and it still hasn't changed. That's what we want to keep." So they began collecting money for the legal fight. First came the $2,500 retainers for Toms River attorney Edward F. Liston Jr. and professional planner Thomas A. Thomas. Wheeler wanted to hire a traffic safety engineer, but there wasn't enough money for the $3,800 retainer. "I said to Ed, 'Pick one, you can't have both,' " she recalled. The group, known as the Route 528 Business Owners, spent $1,400 - $700 apiece for Liston and Thomas- to attend the March 26 zoning board meeting. But the entire four-hour meeting was eaten up by testimony fromWawa's project planner. The businesses have roughly $800 left in the till to pay for Liston and Thomas to attend the next zoning board meeting, which is slated for April 30. "It's $1,400 a meeting," Wheeler said. "And that's not counting prep time. I have $800 in the account.We don't have enough for the next meeting." Wheeler asked Board of Adjustment Chairman John Rentschler after the March 26 meeting how many more meetings he thought would be needed for the zoning board to make a decision. "He said four," Wheeler said. Wheeler's father, Joseph, founded Joe's Service Center back in 1958. This year is the family's 50th year in business. "I planned on spending the money on a celebration, not on lawyer fees," she said. Her father retired to Florida several years ago, but he would be up "in a heartbeat" if he is needed at the next zoning board meeting, Wheeler said. "He's very upset and he's just as concerned," she said. "He lived in the town for over 40 years. He remembers when there were no Brick police and Brick was patrolled by the state police. He remembers when the town was small and they had parades down Mantoloking Road." The Wheelers and Thomas and Maria Adair, who own the Fat Cat Bake Shop just up the road, say their fight is not just about business, it's about safety. "I used to walk on this road when we first moved here," Maria Adair said. "I don't do that anymore. It's not walkerfriendly, and it's going to be a lot worse." She also worries about neighborhood children who often ride their bikes on the road. "There's so many near misses on this road already,' she said. "This is their little downtown. This is not the appropriate place for something like that. Don't bring it into a neighborhood where it affects too many people." Lisa Wheeler agrees. "I'm not just a business owner, I'm resident," Wheeler said. The Wheelers' 15-year-old son and 13- year-old daughter also ride their bikes down Mantoloking Road. "At that age, they should be," Wheeler said. "We are a beach community. Wawa brings more traffic. It's going to be deadly to our children." The service station business will still be around whether Wawa is approved or not, Bill Wheeler said. "Joe's Service Center is going to be here no matter what," he said. "It's a safety issue." A Wawa convenience store would definitely hurt the Fat Cat Bake Shop, the Adairs said. They sell gourmet coffee at inexpensive prices - a small cup is a dollar. Throw in a homemade doughnut and the price is still a reasonable $1.60. "We try to be as competitive as we can," said Thomas Adair, who starts work at 3:30 a.m. each day to make cakes, Danish, doughnuts, cookies, breads and rolls. "It's 100 percent Columbian coffee. It's the best we can buy." The Adairs depend on their morning business to help pay their operating costs. They lost a portion of the morning business when Dunkin' Donuts moved in on Mantoloking Road. They say they will lose even more if the Wawa project is approved. "If we lose those three [morning] hours a day, it's going to hurt," Maria said. "It's really going to hurt." Wheeler has set up a special non-profit account for donations for legal costs to help fight the Wawa application. Checks should be made out to Route 528 Business Owners, and mailed Joe's Service Center, 584 Mantoloking Road, Brick, NJ 08723. Donations can also be made in person at the service center, she said. "I don't think anybody disagrees the lot needs to be cleaned up," Thomas Adair said. "But does it need a SuperWawa? No."