Gas station with convenience store, restaurants approved BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer WOODBRIDGE- AHess Express gas station with a Blimpie, a fast-food sandwich chain, and a Godfather's Pizza, an Italian restaurant chain, will replace the vacant automobile sales showroom and service building in Hopelawn. The Zoning Board ofAdjustment unanimously approved the Hess Corp.'s application at a board meeting on April 17. For the Hess Corp., the proposed gas station will be its third station in the township. One of its sites is located on Route 9 north and Main Street, and another is located at 1020 Route 9 south. The company'sMarketing and Refining offices are located at 1 Hess Plaza in the township. According to the corporation'sWeb site, Hess Express stores are designed to offer customers an answer to today's fast-paced lifestyle by providing the convenience of one-stop shopping. The property at 119 West Pond Road currently contains two lots- an irregular 84,607-square-foot parcel fronting on the western side of West Pond Road near the intersection with Florida Grove Road, and a wooded 42,308-square-foot lot that contains delineated wetlands, abutting the irregular parcel to the north. No development is existing on or proposed for the wooded lot. To the east of the property are a restaurant, a retail store, a gasoline station, and multifamily housing. To the south and west of the property is a cemetery. The property, which has a total of 126,915 square feet (2.91 acres), is located in the B-3 Highway Business Road zone and contains an existing vacant automobile sales showroom and service building and an existing paved parking and vehicle storage area. Two separate entrance and exit driveways exist on theWest Pond Road frontage. The site is almost completely paved. The applicant proposes to clear both lots, remove the existing building and construct a new gasoline station with a 3,514- square-foot mini mart. The covered gasoline station will contain 16 gasoline dispensers and will be located on pump islands under a rectangular canopy on the front (east) portion of the site. Six diesel fuel pumps are shown under a separate canopy on the southwest side of the site. The proposed mini-mart building will be located on the rear (west) side of the site. A detached 864-square-foot car wash building is also proposed and will be located on the south side of the mini-mart building. Twenty-five parking spaces are provided around the perimeter of the mini mart. Two new driveways are proposed on the site frontage. The site will have a oneway counterclockwise circulation pattern. A 22- to 25-foot buffer area is proposed on the south and west property lines where the site abuts a cemetery. Landscaping, lighting and signage are also proposed.