The amendments requested include the elimination of the “Gateway Plaza," a small landscaped corner plaza that was to include such amenities as a bike rack, pedestrian walkways,and benches. Interstate's amendments propose the park-like area be changed to a lawn and some deciduous trees.
The applicant also wishes to add a new median break onto Raider Boulevard near the current opening at Greenfield Lane. The median currently contains mature trees.
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Additionally, the historic Carriage House on Route 206 would not be renovated under the amended plans, but only painted and reinforced.
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Further, Interstate wants to eliminate the board-on-board fence on the northern property line that was to buffer the neighboring lot, reduce the number of trees to be planted on the Royce Brook berm, and eliminate the westernmost driveway onto Raider Boulevard.
They also wish to make some sidewalk changes, keeping the existing 4-foot-wide sidewalk on Raider Boulevard (originally to be widened to 6-feet to accommodate bicycles) and relocating the sidewalk on Route 206 to avoid existing utility poles.
Interstate is scheduled on the Board of Adjustment agenda for Wednesday, June 3rd.
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Yesterday a local headline read "Major drugstore chain Walgreens extending its presence in area." The article includes this quote: "...According to the corporate Web site, the Walgreens Company, based in Deerfield, Ill., opens 425 new stores each year and anticipates operating 7,000 stores nationwide by 2010..."
Walgreens (NYSE: WAG)(NASDAQ: WAG) had May sales of $5,370,200,000, an increase of 6.1 percent from $5,060,627,000 for the same month in 2008. Sales in comparable stores (those open at least a year) increased 1.0 percent. Comparable store front-end sales increased 0.2 percent versus last year’s increase of 6.0 percent.
In July,2007 Interstate Development (the developer for the local Walgreens-to-be), filed an "Economic Hardship Waiver from the Provisions of the Tree Mitigation Ordinance" in which they asked for a "...reduction of fees from $145,275.00 to $0.00..." The relief granted was a reduction from $145,275.00 to $3,250.00.
3 comments:
Thanks for writing about this. Interstate was on the agenda last week for the Historic Commission, but they weren't actually present - we just debated their new requests. Actually, "debate" is not the right word, since there was none. We were all in agreement.
You might mention that one of the principals of Interstate is Vernon Hill - the multimillionaire founder of Commerce Bank and owner of the largets private residence in NJ - the 46,000 square foot Villa Collina, in Moorestown Twp.
Interesting meeting last night...thought you would be there.
As for Mr. Hill, according to news stories his departure from Commerce Bank was apparently less than amicable and less than voluntary:
http://ethisphere.com/commerce-bancorp-ceo-forced-out-by-feds-over-insider-dealing-and-general-ostentatiousness/
and
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/nyregion/31hill.html?_r=2&dlbk=&pagewanted=all
And...he's trying to get back into banking:http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2008/11/vernon_hill_resurfaces.html
I had a previous commitment with the charity I am involved with and could not cancel it. The Historic Commission did write a letter to the Board of Adjustment. I wonder how they took it.
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