Zoning Board Nixes Mini-Mart, Rest Stop On Parkway Access

COURT HOUSE – Hidden by groves of mature trees from the Garden State Parkway to its west and from the county complex to its north sits a small vibrant community of middle-class homes and manicured lawns. With wetlands to its east, this community, its access road just a mile from Stone Harbor Boulevard, sits like an island of tranquility surrounded by a bustling section of Middle Township.
Its very existence is probably not something of which many are even aware. Zoned Rural Conservation along with the wide swath of environmentally sensitive areas to the east, the community felt protected from development that characterizes the nearby town center. Felt protected, that is, until they didn’t.
The letter from lawyers came in mid-December. Residents were notified that the owner of a nearby parcel of land, currently housing an office complex, was seeking zoning variances that would allow development of a 24-hour “Quick Service Mart, Rest Stop, and Gas Station in a zoning district prohibiting said use.”
Owner of the site, Louis J. Delosso, through the company of which he is president, The Design Collaborative Architects and Planners (DECO), sought to rezone the area of the proposed mart and have it brought into the town center.
The appearance before the Middle Township Zoning Board was the beginning of a long process seeking approvals for the project, but it was where the project had to begin. “I had to begin here,” Delosso said, “then we will get into site plan development and Planning Board approvals.”
Without zoning variances, there is no project. The issue before the Zoning Board was authorized use of the land. Referring to the meeting, Delosso said, “This is strictly about use.” For neighborhood residents, over 20 of whom showed up for the meeting, it was all about protecting their “quality of life.”
Delosso, who has been with DECO 29 years and has been president of the firm since 1991, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. He and the firm have been involved in numerous well-received publicly-funded projects throughout Cape May County. He began his presentation to the board with his purchase of the property in 1986. It was then adjacent to what he called the Court House By-Pass.
The property, 414 Garden State Parkway, is approximately five acres in size and is used for a “professional office structure.” On-going construction of the parkway overpass will bring the northbound access road along the front of Delosso’s property. It is that access road that the application for variance seeks to take advantage of for the commercial development of the mini-mart and gas station.
Citing a newspaper article on New Jersey’s efforts to upgrade rest stops along the parkway, an article that not coincidentally focused on comments by Trenton politicians concerning creative ways to generate additional tax revenue, Delosso argued that his proposed project met or bettered all the zoning requirements and that it provided more than adequate buffers for the residential community to its north.
Delosso argued that his plan had gone to great lengths to shield the residential neighborhood from any negative impact from the development. Assisted by his attorney and his land use consultant, Delosso asserted his rights under law to the zoning variance.
The public comment period of the meeting gave residents their turn to present objections. The focus of their discussion was on the dangers to their quality of life and protections the current zoning for the area should provide.
Bill Colavito called attention to the 24-hours a day, seven-days-a-week operation of the proposed development with its bright lighting set high above the trees.
Others argued that the mart could only result in increased traffic endangering public safety. With the parkway overpass speeding cars over and through the area, the mart would, they said, seek to pull that traffic off the parkway and into the community. “Why do we need another rest stop with one just six miles down the road?” one neighbor said.
Many of the issues raised by the residents would be properly part of the discussion at the time that a site plan was presented to the Planning Board, but the effort here was to stop this project at the starting point, the request for zoning variances.
Colavito owns a house at the south end of a residential street and it backs onto the property Delosso seeks to develop. “I can see his property from my back yard,” he said. The lights from the proposed mart will shine right into his house, Colavito noted, especially when the trees have lost their leaf cover in winter. “I will also have a perfect view of his dumpster,” he said.
Colavito tried to present a petition signed by most of the neighborhood, but was told that the board would need proof of its signatures. That led to one of the more dramatic aspects of the residents’ opposition testimony.
Over 20 people lined up before the recording device in front of the clerk to give their name and state that they had signed the petition. It was an unintended consequence of presenting the petition but it gave ceremony to the project’s opposition.
In the end, everything was down to the vote of the board after almost three hours of presentation and discussion. The project sought two variances and thus required two votes. Inexplicably one variance was denied and the other approved as board member Melanie Collins voted differently on each variance.
As Delosso’s land use consultant Lance Landgraf later put it, “Without the first variance approved, the second was of no use to the project.” Some discussion among board personnel ensued to understand why the split vote had occurred and the board’s attorney went into private discussion with Delosso’s attorney, apparently to see if some compromise were possible and possibly a revote.
Those discussions, out of earshot of the meeting, had residents upset as murmurs of “they can’t do that” could be heard. The result of the discussion between attorneys was that no revote was possible.
Delosso’s application had effectively lost when the vote on one of the variances was one vote shy of the needed level for approval even though it still had a majority.
When asked what he would do next, Delosso said, “I am disappointed that the neighbors did not understand the project and I am going to consider my next steps. I will either be back to the zoning board or I’ll go to court and seek a judicial ruling for the variances.”
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.