Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Residents began circulating a petition to have the mayor and council overturn the plan's approval.
There will be no diesel fuel at the expanded 5 Star Gas, but the plan for the gas station has otherwise been approved. The Washington Township Zoning Board voted 5-2 Tuesday to add a final condition prohibiting the sale of diesel fuel to the approval of Sky Trading, LLC's plan to renovate the gas station on the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue with additional pumps and a new 1,206-square-foot convenience store. The board made the decision to grant use variances at their May meeting and memorialized their decision Tuesday. Residents said they were happy to get one more compromise on the plan, which neighbors previously said will be too big and disruptive at an already-too-busy intersection in a residential zone. They had been …
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Washington Township's attorney said the residents opposed to the expansion of 5 Star Gas may be able to appeal to the council.
Washington Township residents who have opposed the expansion of 5 Star Gas said they intend to continue fighting the plan, despite a decision from the township's zoning board last month to approve the requested use variances for the project. The plan, which the board approved with numerous conditions, calls for two more gas pumps and a canopy to be added to the gas station, which is located on the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue. There will also be a 1,206-square-foot convenience store built to replace the garage currently on the site. The zoning board will have to pass a final resolution at their next meeting, on June 19, to officially approve the plan. Residents who live near the site have criticized the plan for being too …
Thursday, June 7, 2012
The Washington Township Zoning Board approved a plan to upgrade 5 Star Gas with more pumps and a convenience store against the direction of the Master Plan.
Washington Township Planning Board Chairman Gus Calamari said he wished members of the township's zoning board had followed the lead of its chairman in voting against a variance for Sky Trading's plan to add a convenience store to 5 Star Gas. The zoning board granted variances to Sky Trading at their last meeting that will allow the gas station to add an additional two-pump gas island and a canopy to the exisiting gas station use and to add the new use of the convenience store, despite the protests of residents who criticized the plan. While voting on each variance, Zoning Board Chairman William Johnson voted against the convenience store use, citing the township's Master Plan. The site, at the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Members of the Washington Township Zoning Board set stipulations for their approval of a planned gas station and convenience store.
Members of the Washington Township Zoning Board approved all the variances requested for a plan to replace 5 Star Gas with a new gas station and 1,206-square-foot convenience store Tuesday, though they did set some conditions with which the applicant, Sky Trading, will have to comply. The variances included two use variances to add the convenience store and expand the gas station in a residential zone. The expansion of the gas station was only approved after the applicant's experts made some impromptu changes to the plan, reducing the size of the planned canopy and lowering the number of proposed pumps from eight to six. Board member Laura Merkle said the change would help dampen the impact of the expansion. "It's not going to be as …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Sky Trading plans to replace Washington Township's 5 Star Gas with a new gas station and convenience store.
The Washington Township Zoning Board is scheduled to vote on an application to replace 5 Star Gas with a new 1,206-square-foot convenience store and four-island gas station during their meeting Tuesday night. Attorney Bruce Whitaker, who represents Sky Trading, made his final statements about the application at the board's April meeting. Whitaker said the new gas station would look better than the current one and improve drainage, traffic flow, parking and landscaping at the site. "Overall, this becomes a better site than what is there now," Whitaker said at the hearing. If the application is approved, the owner has also agreed to give a portion of land at the existing site to the county for a future improvement to the Pascack Road and …
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Here's a look at the past week in Westwood in Washington Township
The Bergen County K-9 Unit was called in to search Westwood Jr./Sr. High School Tuesday after a message claiming there was a bomb in the school was found in a boys bathroom. For most of the 13 years that Steven Leyva has run Sugarflake Bakery in Westwood, he's featured four or five seasonal paintings each year on the shop's front windows. But Leyva stopped his most recent work -- featuring a pile of strawberries and baked goods -- before color was added, when a warrant was issued for his arrest over a dispute with the borough about the paintings. HUMC at Pascack Valley began its renovations Wednesday with a ceremonial wall-breaking in the hospital's west wing. A convenience store and canopy covering gas pumps will help modernize 5 Star Gas…
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
The board will vote on the application at their next meeting.
A convenience store and canopy covering gas pumps will help modernize 5 Star Gas and improve the site from the "eyesore" it is now, according to attorney Bruce Whitaker. Whitaker completed the application for Sky Trading's proposed gas station and convenience store to replace the exisiting gas station and garage on the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue during a meeting of the Washington Township Zoning Board Tuesday night. The plan will require two use variances and four bulk variances from the board for the owner to proceed with construction of the 1,206-square-foot store and four-island gas station in a residential zone. If granted, the use variances will allow the expansion of the current gas station use and the new store use…
Monday, April 16, 2012
The attorney for Sky Trading will make his closing arguments at the meeting.
Bruce Whitaker, the attorney for Sky Trading, is scheduled to make his closing arguments Tuesday for his client's plan to demolish 5 Star Gas and replace it with a new gas station and convenience store. The plan calls for a 1,211-square-foot convenience store and gas station on the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue. Residents have criticized the proposed building as being too big and expressed concern the rebuilt business would create more noise and pollution than it does now. At the last hearing, residents had the opportunity to share their opinions about the plan during a public comment period. Neighbors said they believed there was no need for a convenience store at the site when there are still empty stores in the strip mall…
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Further hearings may be delayed by scheduling problems for the next two months.
Engineer David Caruso testified about lighting and landscaping planned for a proposed CVS and an attorney hired by the Northgate Condominium Association began to cross-examine him during a special meeting of the Washington Township Zoning Board Wednesday. The plan calls for a 14,769-square-foot pharmacy with a drive-through to be built on the corner of Pascack Road and Washington Avenue. The site is in a residential zone and there are currently three houses on the property. According to Caruso, the plan includes 13 pole-mounted lights, seven bollard lights and two wall-mounted lights around the site. Signs on the site would also have internal illumination, but none of the light should reach beyond the center of Pascack Road, Caruso said. …
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Here's a look at what happened in Westwood and Washington Township this week.
The owners of The Iron Horse marked the restaurant's 40-year anniversary Wednesday morning. The restaurant officially reopened March 5, less than five months after a fire destroyed the kitchen. Dozens of family, friends, customers and employees packed into the restaurant Wednesday while local clergy blessed several rooms. The Westwood Regional Board of Education approved a $52 million budget for the 2012-13 school year during their meeting Thursday. The budget comes with a 1.38 increase to the overall tax levy, but Westwood and Washington Township residents will be affected differently by the budget. Washington Township residents voiced their concerns about Sky Trading's plan to knock down 5 Star Gas and replace it with a new eight-pump …
Falcon Fan
11:08 am on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
"The town will burn down". I continue to be amazed. more ›