As paving work continues at the future WWM Properties shopping center on Southfield Road, across from McCaffrey’s, and remediation of the site continues, the site plan itself has been amended.
The West Windsor Planning Board approved the amendment on July 1, which allows PNC Bank to create a building that sets it apart esthetically from the rest of the buildings in the plaza. The bank will utilize different materials, including more glass as part of a “greener” design, than the other businesses in the center, which will be developed in a village center-like manner.
The bank building meets LEED initiatives that West Windsor has supported in the past and includes a change in the roof line from the previous plan to accommodate the building of the bank. The amendment allows the PNC Bank building to be consistent with the PNC Bank building located on Route 571, across from the train station, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said.
Other tenants expected to move into the plaza include a CVS Pharmacy and the Learning Experience daycare center. As part of the amendment, the Planning Board placed a requirement that the daycare center create a playground that contains the number of square feet based on state regulations, which take into account the number of children who would be playing in that area during any given time, Hsueh said.
The amended preliminary and final major site plan approval calls for the construction of a planned village retail and service center consisting of five buildings with a total of 45,079 square feet — including the CVS Pharmacy, which will stand at 14,369 square feet with one drive-thru lane. It also includes an 11,000-square-foot retail building; the 3,710-foot PNC Bank building with two drive-thru lanes; a 6,000-square-foot retail building; and the 10,000-square-foot daycare center.
The center will contain 162 parking spaces, drainage, landscaping, lighting, signage, and other site improvements.
Construction at the 12-acre shopping center, where a daycare center, bank, pharmacy, and several small retail establishments are proposed, was halted a few years ago after the state Department of Environmental Protection found that Ford Motor Co. and its contractor, Edgewood Properties Inc., had shipped recycled concrete from the demolition of Ford’s former Edison Assembly Plant on Route 1 to various construction sites around the state, including West Windsor. Tests later found the cement to contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Since then, DEP has allowed WWM to cap the site, which included removing a certain amount of material and capping the site, which entails paving the roads, sidewalks, and the slabs for the buildings.
That work is underway now, and contractors on the site are putting in “extra-clean” material for the roadways, curbways, sidewalks, berms, and concrete slabs. When this work is done, WWM Properties will go back to the DEP to make sure the DEP is satisfied with the work on site to satisfy the remediation.
Once they receive a “no further action” designation from the DEP, the township will be able to give the WWM officials the permits they need to be able to build the actual buildings on site.
Planning Board Reorganizes. In other business during the July 1 Planning Board meeting, Marvin Gardner was elected by his fellow Planning Board members to serve as chairman again. Chuck Chang was chosen as vice president.
Michael Karp was given a permanent spot on the Planning Board, and Larry Rubinstein was moved into his former spot as an alternate member, as a result of increased work duties as the chief of the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company.
Michael Huey was also appointed as an alternate member, and Susan Appelget was appointed to a seat on the board after having retired from working 23 years total for the township. She worked the last 16 years of her career in the Planning and Zoning office and worked her first seven years with the township in the financial department.
Diane Ciccone returned to the Planning Board as the Township Council’s representative.
