Politics & Government

Wawa Application Posponed Wednesday

Board of Adjustment to hear testimony Feb. 22

The Board of Adjustment on Wednesday postponed a scheduled hearing of an application to build a Wawa convenience store with gas station and a separate solar farm on property at Route 34 and Hurleys Pond Road.

Board Chair Wilma Morrissey announced at the meeting that the application, brough by CJS Investments of Wall, would not be heard. No reason was given. The application is scheduled to be heard again on Feb. 22, Morrissey said.

The Board of Adjustment on Wednesday declined to vote on a minor subdivision that would create space for a Wawa convenience store and gas station and a nearly 3,000 panel solar farm on Hurley Pond Road and Route 34.

Find out what's happening in Wallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

CJS wants to combine portions of two adjoining parcels at the intersection to create enough space on each to build a Wawa convenience store with gas station with a separate, unmanned, 2,968-panel solar electricity farm behind it.

Stuart Challoner, of Toms River-based Challoner & Associates, at the Jan. 18 board meeting touted the benefits of moving the lot lines between the two parcels, taking some from one and adding to the other, saying that the new parcels would be of more benefit for the improvement of both, as well as increasing traffic safety.

Find out what's happening in Wallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The corner property, which fronts the state highway and is slated for the Wawa under the proposal, would have improved entrance and exit if the lot line was extended, putting traffic onto Hurley Pond Road farther back from the intersection, Challoner said.

But board member James Gray was the first to put the brakes on.

“I don’t see the point in voting on the subdivision now,’’ Gray said at the conclusion of the 40-minute CJS pitch.

CJS proposes to expand the first lot, which has access to Route 34, from less than an acre to about 2.5 acres. That is where the company proposes to put the Wawa store and gas station.

Behind that, on a 4.7-acre property fronting Hurley Pond Road, is where the company wants to build the solar electricity farm.


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