Next month, the Municipal Land Use Board (MLUB) will hear Roselle Park’s part of the application for the proposed Wawa on Westfield Avenue right off of the Garden State Parkway. The property, which previously was the old Horan Building Supply, is along the border of Cranford and Roselle Park.
According to tax records, about 26% of the total property area is in the borough – from where the east side of Grove Street ends to the fence of Sun Tavern. Below is a summary of the three properties owned by Horan Lumber & Coal Company – the larger parcel is in Cranford and the two smaller ones are in Roselle Park. The actual building and front parking lot will be in Cranford. The side parking lot will be in Roselle Park. The variance hearing will be for the lot, light poles, landscaping, and a retention basin.
| Municipality | Acreage |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cranford | 1.16 |
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| Roselle Park | 0.356 |
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| Roselle Park | 0.062 |
The 18,200 sq. ft. of the two lots paid about $6,500 in taxes this year based on their new assessments after the townwide revaluation conducted last year by the municipality.
Assessment | Taxes |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
$95,300 | $3,631.88 |
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$74,900 | $2,854.44 |
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TOTAL | $170,200 | $6,486.32 |
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Technically, this is the second time that a Wawa has been proposed within the borders of Roselle Park. In March of 2010, an interested developer – TripleNet Realty – had an Interpretation Hearing before the MLUB to have a Wawa as well as a bank on the Sullivan property at the intersection of Westfield Avenue and Chestnut Street. The store was to be 4,500 sq. ft. with 10 to 12 gas pumps. At that time, the MLUB asked for alternatives besides a Wawa at Sullivan. The developer did not pursue subsequent preliminary hearings. The Sullivan property -as it 0s known – has not been developed since then. A new owner, MAS Development Group, had a preliminary hearing application for an AutoZone along with three (3) other retail uses but that was denied by the MLUB in 2015. The property currently sits undeveloped.
The variance hearing is set to be heard by the MLUB on Wednesday, January 4, 2017, at 7 p.m. in the Roselle Park Municipal Complex located at 110 East Westfield Avenue as part of its reorganization meeting. MLUB meetings are usually held on the first Mondays of the month but January 2, 2017, is the observed New Year’s holiday and there is a conflict on Tuesday with Loren Harms who is both a member of the MLUB and the Board Of Education (BOE). By law, the MLUB needs to hold its annual reorganization meeting within seven (7) days of the start of the year.