The owner of the Mobil gas station at 181 Elm St. wants to conduct a more thorough study of traffic patterns.
Pennsylvania-based Lehigh Gas Corp., owner of the Mobil gas station at 181 Elm St. in Westfield, has asked the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow it to drop its petition for a Dunkin' Donuts drive-up window in order to give the company more time to conduct a more thorough study of traffic patterns.WESTFIELD - A request for the addition of a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-up window as part of an expansion plan for a downtown Mobil gas station has been withdrawn to allow parent company officials to take a closer look at traffic patterns.
Pennsylvania-based Lehigh Gas Corp., owner of the Mobil gas station at 181 Elm St., appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals Wednesday and asked the board to allow it to drop its petition in order to give the company more time to conduct a more thorough study of traffic patterns.
Appearing on behalf of Lehigh, Attorney Timothy E. Reynolds asked board members to grant the withdrawal request without prejudice, a move that will allow the company to refile the plan at a later date.
Reynolds told the board that traffic questions raised by members prompted company officials to opt out of the project for the time being in order to address the concerns that were expressed during the Feb. 23 meeting.
“After hearing the questions raised, Lehigh felt it should study the traffic pattern more,” Reynolds said.
The project is also before the Planning Board, and Reynolds said the company will also ask that board to allow it to withdraw its application for a special permit and site plan modification.
In addition to the concerns expressed by board members, Ward Three City Councilor Peter J. Miller formally expressed his opposition to the project citing an amendment he sponsored to the zoning ordinances limiting drive-up windows.
The intersection at Elm and Franklin streets, he stated, is not only in the city’s Commercial Office Retail Enterprise (CORE) zone, but is already plagued by traffic congestion and cannot handle an increase in vehicles that would be created by a drive-up window.
“The stress that additional traffic would place on the intersection ... would certainly create a larger impact on the area than the site as currently constituted,” he stated. “This intersection is already over-capacity and it cannot withstand the addition of such an acute use.”
In referring to the CORE zone, Miller cited an amendment he sponsored and presented to the City Council’s Legislative and Ordinance Committee limiting fast food drive-through enterprises as counterproductive to downtown revitalization.
Only drive-up windows for banks and pharmacies are allowed under the ordinance.
“The council was clear it was adopting this section of the ordinance specifically to exclude drive-through capabilities for food service operators,” he said. “Citizens of Westfield have also been clear in their desire for a more pedestrian-friendly and vibrant downtown.”
Representatives of Lehigh Gas Corp. presented the plan to expand the current building from 924 to 1,771 square feet and to eliminate the drive-through car wash on the property, as well as two of the six gas pumps.