Zoning Board approves Colonia Walgreens app. Zoning Board members insist Walgreens must 'be a good neighbor' BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE - Thirteen-year-old Serena Bidal told James Clarkin III, Walgreen Eastern Co. Inc.'s attorney, at the Zoning Board meeting last week that the Walgreens in Colonia must be a good neighbor to her family and neighbors. And that's what Walgreens at the intersection of Inman Avenue and Amherst Avenue must be, a good neighborhood pharmacy, board members said. "Aside from being a good neighbor, I do believe that this will be a major improvement to the site," said Zoning Board Chairman Bernard McLaughlin. The board voted unanimously to approve Walgreen Eastern Co. Inc.'s proposed minor site plan, use and bulk variances at the March 15 meeting. The property currently is an 110,947-square-foot irregular lot with frontage on the south side of Inman Avenue and Amherst Street. The property contains an existing Walgreens pharmacy building, an attached one-story retail building, a separate 14,8370-square-foot retail building, and surrounding paved parking lots. Both buildings front on Inman Avenue. Walgreen Eastern Co. Inc. proposed to remove the existing Walgreens building, which is 50-plus years old, on the west side of the lot and replace it with a new 13,390-square-foot Walgreens building and an attached 5,044-square-foot tenant building, which includes a Dunkin' Donuts. The Walgreens will have a drive-up window on the west frontage, which will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A new parking and circulation plan is provided, with new pavement to be installed on the western portion of the site. Lighting and landscaping improvements are proposed. The existing retail building on the east portion of the lot will remain. The Walgreens in Colonia, which currently has 35 employees, is opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The property is located in a B-1 neighborhood business zone and the R-7.5 high density single-family residential zone. Colonia residents who live adjacent to the Walgreens property worried about headlights shining in their bedroom windows because of the drive-through lane, fumes from delivery trucks, increased traffic, more noise, and garbage around the property. Clarkin agreed on behalf of the company to raise the neighboring fence to eight feet to prevent any headlight disturbance and also to remove the LED portion of the electronic sign. Under the township Land Use and Development ordinance, any flashing, fluttering, or electronic signs are not permitted in any zone. Clarkin said that Walgreens employees would make sure their property is clean and clear of garbage. Nicholas Verderese, the applicant's traffic expert, said the volume of traffic was higher at the old current site and said he believes that the proposed two-way driveway on the new site will help lessen the traffic. The Walgreens store manager told the board that the store receives two deliveries at 7:30 a.m. and said the expansion of the store might see an increased amount of the 22,000 items that Walgreens originally sells, but not additional products.