As the new year begins, renovations to the Valero gas station on the corner of Route 571 and Alexander Road are scheduled to finally come to fruition.
Representatives for the gas station appeared before West Windsor’s Zoning Board in 2002 to request putting in a convenience store, canopy, and more gas pumps at their site. When the application was denied, the gas station owners took the township to court. The judge not only overruled the Zoning Board’s decision, but actually approved the site plan during the hearing, which is rare, said Sam Surtees, the townships’ Land Use Division Manager.
The approval came with some conditions, only one of which was recently outstanding, and that was approval from the county, Surtees said. “It’s my understanding that is pretty much all done, and that the applicant will be starting in the early part of 2008,” Surtees said.
As representatives for the gas station were awaiting county approval on pedestrian safety improvements at the site, they had to come before the Zoning Board on a few occasions to request extensions until that approval could be given.
“It would be putting in new traffic lights with pedestrian-activated buttons, putting in crosswalks, sidewalks, and landscaping along the road,” Surtees said of the county requirements. He said that it’s very common that county or municipal governments require improvements be made by developers to roads falling under their respective jurisdictions as conditions for approval to their projects.
He did say that the improvements won’t only help the Valero station’s business, but they will also help beautify the town.
In 1941, the former owners of the site had to go before the township to receive a variance to open up a grocery store, Surtees said. That grocery store — which used to be the only grocery store in town at the time — is where the Valero’s convenience store will be located.
