Juan Navarro likes his morning coffee as much as the next guy. He’s just not sure how much he likes the next guy.
A proposed Dunkin’ Donuts would place a drive-through lane about 14 feet from his bedroom. Representatives of the fast-food restaurant say it will operate from 5 am to 11 pm–although its application to the Morristown zoning board calls for 24/7 hours.
“It’s horrible,” said Navarro, one of many residents who came to Thursday’s board meeting to question plans by Madison Enterprises LLC, a Madison-based company that wants to add a Dunkin Donuts to the existing Gulf station at the corner of Washington and Mills streets in Morristown.
An engineer for the project, John Palus, testified that the proposed drive-through operation would reduce the size of the present structure, removing the auto-repair bays. Trees would be planted, and a fence would be erected, to screen the restaurant from Navarro’s property line, which sits 10 feet away. Storm water drainage also would be improved, Palus said.
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No cooking would occur on the premises; vans or box trucks would deliver donuts and sandwiches there, he said. Madison Enterprises operates two other Dunkin’ Donuts franchises in town. The restaurant and gas station would be owned and managed separately, Palus said.
The project needs a use variance to allow the dual use. And the gas station would need to be re-ratified, because it’s already a non-conforming use in an office/residential zone, said the project’s lawyer, former Mayor Jay DeLaney. Additional variances are required for lot coverage, boundary setbacks, and the like.
Plans call for the one-way drive-through lane to exit onto Mills Street adjacent to Navarro’s property.
Navarro, an employee at Morristown Medical Center, said it already takes him 10 minutes to exit his driveway on busy mornings and he suspects the drive-through only will make it worse.
Palus said the coffee-and-doughnut business should generate far less traffic than a McDonald’s, though he did not have statistics.
Board member Scott Wild mentioned a handful of guidelines from planning and industry associations around the country recommending greater distances to separate commercial drive-throughs from residences. But board planning consultant Bill Mikesell said no such guidelines exist in Morristown, nor was he aware of any precedents here.
After 25 years of living next to the gas station, Navarro said he has gotten used to occasional truck noise from gasoline deliveries. He’s wondering how early morning food deliveries will sound. Palus told the board that the restaurant’s trash pickup hours can be scheduled for agreeable times.
Other residents inquired about the safety of children who walk or are bused to the nearby Alexander Hamilton and Morristown High schools, and also about litter. Outdoor picnic tables are included in the plans.
More testimony from project engineers, traffic consultants and architects is expected when the hearing resumes on March 4, 2015.
In anticipation of that testimony, the board waived submission of a full-blown environmental impact statement from the applicant. However, at the urging of some members, board President Cary Lloyd mandated special reports about ongoing soil remediation efforts connected to the gas station operation, and about air quality- and noise issues related to the proposed drive-through.
Area resident Dr. Lynn Siebert noted that an underground stream feeding the Whippany River runs through the neighborhood.
Environmental monitoring of the site was initiated by a prior owner, Palus said. The board requested more details about that.
In other business, board members heard the developer of the Ridgedale Commons condos ask them to amend last year’s approval to allow him to erect 29 apartments instead. The board asked for more information.
Do we really need another Dunkin Donuts in Morristown when we already have two within walking distance and Whole Foods will be across the street. Come on Morristown Council, take care of your citizens.
Former mayor is the lawyer for DD…His wife is the head of the town’s environmental board …and then the board of adjustment says no environmental review is going to be done on this project… even though it is a gas station and a stream runs under it and the cars will be pilled up, running non-stop on line during rush hour…. Smells worse than fast food.
Amen, Margaret. In addition a new business in our neighborhood should be something positive, not a place that sells junk food to the elementary and high school students in close proximity. 1 in 3 children born in 2000 or later will develop diabetes in their lifetimes and 1 in 2 latino children. Eating and exercise habits are established when we are young. I have children and grandchildren in the neighborhood and don’t want them to have a junk food establishment as one of their close neighbors!
Just because the existing use at that location is ugly doesn’t meaning you have to make it and our Town even uglier.
Because of the locations proximity to both schools and the park, you already have heavier than normal pedestrian use at that corner with difficult sight lines and streets converging at different angles.
If you want to add a third Dunkin Donuts to our little town, why not put it in the vacant building on the Whole Foods site, just down the street.
Up dated gas stations may be more efficient for their owners but they sure don’t enhance our neighborhoods. Adding more traffic to an already busy intersection is not good planning. Adding a use that will encourage the many school children in the area to dodge the cars in the station while they purchase a treat to eat on their way to school or the park, is also not very smart.
The Thomas Paine statue is nearby by. Remember what he stood for and use some common sense.