Rite Aid hearing date changed

MANALAPAN - The Zoning Board of Adjustment is expected to open a hearing at 8 p.m. Aug. 2 for a proposed Rite Aid pharmacy at the corner of Route 33 east and Sweetmans Lane on the south side of the township.

The application's original hearing date of July 19 was changed at the request of the applicant, according to the township's planning and zoning office.

Rite Aid of New Jersey Inc., of Harris-burg, Pa., is the applicant putting forth the proposal for a 1.47-acre parcel that is owned by NJD Development, LLC, of Piscataway.

Rite Aid will be represented in front of the zoning board by attorney Kenneth Pape.

According to documents provided by the township, the applicant has been denied a zoning certificate because a pharmacy is not a permitted use in the LB-M (limited business-manufacturing) district. The zoning certificate was denied on May 21.

The applicant will now seek a use variance and bulk variances from the zoning board that, if granted, would permit it to construct a new one-story, 11,153-square-foot Rite Aid pharmacy with a drive-up window on property that presently contains an unoccupied office/school building, according to the application.

Rite Aid is listed on the application as a contract tenant subject to approval of the plan by the zoning board. The application was filed by Lawrence Gelman, vice president of Rite Aid of New Jersey Inc.

According to a legal notice published in a daily newspaper on July 16, among other items, the applicant will request the following relief:

• Minimum lot area, 3 acres required where 1.47 acress exists (existing condition).

• Minimum lot frontage, 300 feet required where 207 feet exists (existing condition).

• Maximum impervious lot coverage, 50 percent permitted, 70.7 percent proposed.

• Minimum number of parking spaces, 52 provided, 56 required.