Residents Voice Traffic, Safety Concerns at 7-Eleven Hearing

The Freehold Borough Planning Board will decide the fate of a 7-Eleven at its Dec. 28 meeting.

The governing body voted 6-2 during its meeting at Borough Hall on Wednesday to advise board attorney F. Patrick Accisano to draft the negative resolution.  

HRS Investments’ has proposed constructing a 2,556-square-foot 7-Eleven at 63 E. Main St. in Downtown Freehold. The former gas station site is located on Main Street and Spring Street at the five-point intersection.

The board’s decision came at the end of a third session of hearings on the application, which included over nine hours of testimony and board and public comments. With a complex application, the Planning Board takes a vote to draft a negative or positive resolution on a project before casting a final vote, Accisano explained.

Planning Board Chairman Kevin Mulligan said the project would impact traffic patterns and create a potential safety issue with the ability of ambulances and volunteers for the , which is located on Spring Street, to navigate the intersection.

“The traffic is rather difficult in that intersection. I think the safety issue is key,” Mulligan said. “Also, I understand that it would be a permitted use but in my view, Downtown Freehold is trying to be something unique.”

Mulligan and board members Marjorie Goetz, Lillie Hendry, Gary Jackson, Robert Oakes, and George Schnurr voted in favor of the resolution denying the application, while Planning Board Vice Chairwoman Danielle Sims and member Adam Reich voted against it.

Sims and Reich both expressed concerns about the impact the project would have on the area, but said any proposal would affect an already difficult intersection.

“The applicant made the best of a bad situation, in this case, the best of a bad intersection,” Reich said. “There is nothing that can be done to improve that intersection. This a reasonable project that fits the redevelopment plan.”

Traffic, Safety Concerns Raised

The third session of the hearing marked the first time members of the public and the Planning Board had an opportunity to weigh in on the proposed 7-Eleven.

Goetz took issue with elements of a study conducted by Joseph Staigar, a traffic engineer retained by the developer. Staigar estimated the convenience store would generate 86 trips in and 86 trips out during morning peak hours and 68 in and 68 out during evening peak hours. He explained that the nature of a convenience store dictates that people will avoid a store that seems difficult to get into at a particular time and head to the next one.

However, Goetz said the convenience factor could impact the current traffic pattern. She explained that the layout of the five-point intersection may make it more convenient for drivers travelling westbound on East Main Street to use the right-hand lane to pass through the light quickly and enter the 7-Eleven from the Spring Street entrance.

“If you’re in the right turn lane, you’re going to make the first light. If you’re in the left lane, you’re going to sit for three or four lights, so you’re going to make the turn,” Goetz said. “You seem to think that there will be a minimal impact on operational conditions and it’s not going to be minimal. There are a lot of other variables that were not taken into consideration.”

Oakes noted that a potential backup on both lanes of Spring Street would make it difficult for ambulances to maneuver in and out of traffic. However, Staigar said the 27-foot width of Spring Street provides room for an eight-foot wide ambulance to travel with two five-foot wide cars pulled near the curb of either lane.

“Most motorists will pull off to the side if they see an ambulance company. Most people will or should abide by traffic laws,” Staigar said.

According to Freehold First Aid & Emergency Squad President David Cranmer the organization answers over 4,000 calls a year, requiring two responders for each call. He said it would be difficult for two lanes of cars on Spring Street to maneuver out of the way for an ambulance.

“It would take a bit of jimmying back and forth for the person trying to make the left to get out of the way, and in the mean time that ambulance is sitting there and someone’s waiting for it,” Cranmer said.

The potential for loitering at the site concerned Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer.

“That location sits right in the middle of three areas that are conducive to foot traffic,” Shutzer said. “I am extremely concerned about the atmosphere which we may be creating at that particular spot in town and I am wondering if this is what we want for our downtown area.”

Sims noted that the 24-hour operation of the site could prove to be a safety issue, as well. Board of Health member Craig Jewell echoed her concern.

“I’m really worried about the stress that would be put on of the police department to keep it under control, especially if it's open 24 hours,” Jewell said. “I just don’t understand how we could consider having another convenience store in town. I think we should aim higher.”

Freehold Landlord Association of New Jersey President Andy Kiely said an office use at the site would benefit Freehold Borough more than a 7-Eleven would.

“If we had a 4,000-square-foot office building, maybe we’d have more people who took lunch downtown and spent their money in town,” Kiely said. “7-Eleven is great. I like to stop at 7-Eleven, but when it’s at the right spot.”

The developer’s attorney, Mark Williams of , asked Planning Board to consider the merit of the application in comparison to other potential uses for the site.

“I think if you stack our proposed use with a retail and office use or against a gas station—which is looking more and more promising, ugly as it is—this is one of the few viable options,” Williams said.