Against neighbors' protests, Brick board approves new Wawa

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BRICK - The Township Board of Adjustment unanimously approved on Wednesday a new Wawa and quick-service restaurant on Route 70, over the objections of residents of the nearby Lake Riviera community.

Brick 70 Developers LLC sought eight variances from the Board of Adjustment, many related to the irregular shape of the nearly five-acre lot on the south side of Route 70 west of Duquesne Boulevard.

The company plans to build a 5,585-square-foot Wawa convenience store with gas pumps on the property as well as a 4,362-square-foot quick-service restaurant. The parcel will include parking for 104 vehicles and a drive-through lane for its restaurant, as well as 8-foot-high sound wall between the buildings and residential community to the south.

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Nearby residents who attended the Board of Adjustment meeting said they feared the development would increase congestion on Duquesne Boulevard and North Lake Shore Drive.

"It's definitely going to bring more traffic to the area," Anthony Zurica, 66, of Aurora Drive told the board. "It's going to further diminish our property values."

Andrea Booker of Tennessee Drive told the board she worried about children and residents riding their bikes or walking from Lake Riviera to the Wawa or eatery, citing traffic through the area.

"I'm concerned for the well-being of our children and our residents," she said.

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Neighbors even launched a petition opposing the project on Change.org, which garnered 278 signers by Wednesday.

In March, the Board of Adjustment rejected an earlier Wawa and eatery proposal on the site after residents protested the plan. At the time Brick 70 Developers LLC attorney John Jackson III said he would not appeal the decision.

Instead, he returned to the board with an amended application, one that reduced the size of the quick-service restaurant, eliminated an entrance on North Lake Shore Drive, and included a long sound wall and more vegetative buffer to protect nearby homes from noise.

"We think that this site is going to be successful," Jackson told the board.

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His arguments were enough to convince the board of the plan's merits, and its members approved the project unanimously just after 11 p.m. Wednesday.

"Truthfully I'm disgusted with the decision," Booker said afterward in a message to a reporter. "Not one board member took our concerns in(to) consideration. Nor did the developers prove that the variances benefit the public."

Alice Osmers of Sloping Hill Terrace said she wished the board had rejected at least part of the plan.

"I feel like it's just a little bit too much (development) for that amount of space, but I'm happy with the modifications that they (Brick 70 Developers) did make," she said.

Osmers added: "I'm proud that we (neighbors) tried. … Hopefully in the future, the people of Lake Riviera continue to work for a good, strong neighborhood and developers don't try to take advantage of us."

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Amanda Oglesby: @OglesbyAPP; 732-557-5701; aoglesby@gannettnj.com