Hearing on controversial Wawa store postponed
Company officials need time to review revisions, lawyer says
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Wawa has asked the Board of Adjustment to postpone the next hearing on its plans for a store and gas station on Mantoloking Road.

"We are evaluating some other revisions to the plan," said Wawa land-use attorney Timothy M. Prime. "I need the company to look at the changes."

Prime declined to discuss what the changesmight be. But the application has not been withdrawn, Board of Adjustment Secretary Christine Papa said.

"They just asked to carry the meeting to another date," Papa said.

No other date has been set yet, she said.

"Interesting," said Christine Wheeler when she heard the news Friday.

Wheeler, who co-owns Joe's Service Center directly across the street from the proposed site, has spearheaded a campaign to keep the "super" convenience store and gas station from going up.

The delay will give the group of business owners and community members more time to raisemoney to pay legal fees associated with the fight, Wheeler said.

Several hundred residents packed the Township Council meeting room at the March 26 Board of Adjustment meeting to object to the application.

Prime and Wawa engineer Jeffrey Spalt outlined the plans, which called for a 5,589-square-foot convenience store, 16 gasoline pumps covered by a canopy, 59 parking spaces and three 20,000-gallon, underground gasoline-storage tanks.

Prime said he was "not surprised" at the objections to the plans.

"Not at all," he said. "It's competition, and we are used to competition not wanting Wawa in their town. We bring prices down. It's good for the consumer."

But Wheeler said the fight was not just about competition.

"If you look at the [number] of businesses - the diversity of the businesses - that have come together to fight Wawa, it's more of a community issue," she said.

The objectors claim that Mantoloking Road is not the place for a Wawa superstore and gas station. The road that leads to the barrier island cannot handle the increased traffic Wawa would bring, in addition to the economic harm to existing gasoline stations and other businesses, they say.

"We don't believe that's true," Prime said. "Look at the site. It's obvious."

The 3.4-acre site is a permitted use in the B2 general business zone. Wawa is asking for a number of variances for the project.

The B2 zone prohibits the use of a gas station within 1,000 feet of an existing church or school, and within 2,000 feet of an existing gas station.

The Osbornville Presbyterian Church is less than 1,000 feet from the proposed store. Joe's Service Center, founded by Wheeler's father almost 50 years ago, is directly across the street.

Wawa is asking for a number of other variances, including a 25-foot residential buffer instead of the required 75 feet; the use of 79.4 square feet for a freestanding sign, where 50 square feet is allowed; a design waiver for the driveway setbacks on Mantoloking and Church roads; and detention basins in the front setback, which is not allowed by ordinance.

Prime said the site is suitably zoned for the project.

"The proximity variances are anticompetitive and everybody knows that," he said, "including the board."

Board of Adjustment members recently approved a plan for anotherWawa convenience store and gas station on Brick Boulevard, the site of the former Frank's Nursery and Crafts, he said.

"That's much more appropriate," Wheeler said. "It's an area it should be in."

The Mantoloking Road businesses involved in the fight include Joe's Service Center, Sandy's Exxon, Mike and Sons Repair Shop, Eagle Gas, Brick Town Sunoco, 7-Eleven, the Fat Cat Bake Shop, Surfside Collision and the Little Rascals Academy.

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis also objects to the plans.He attended theMarch 26 Board of Adjustment meeting.

"You have to look at the aesthetics of the neighborhood," Acropolis said later. "Mantoloking Road is not a four-lane highway. It borders a residential area. It's just not appropriate. It's overkill."

Wawa abruptly pulled plans for a convenience and gas station at the intersection of South New Prospect and Bethel Church roads in Jackson in 2005, after strong opposition from residents.