Drive-Thru Ban Takes Shape as Emerson Defines Its Terms

Westwood Mayor John Birkner Jr., with residents, speaks out Aug. 25, 2018, against the then-proposed Wendy’s. | Courtesy photo via Facebook

EMERSON, N.J.—It is so close that many can taste it: a council vote to cut restaurant drive-thrus as conditional uses in the retail zone, following through on a promise to residents here and in neighboring Westwood.

At the council meeting of April 16, based on a thumbs down from the Land Use Board and borough planner, the governing body voted 3–2 to accept recommendations outlined in a March 21 LUB resolution that the ordinance come back with needed clarifications.

The council had approved the measure unanimously at its introduction on Feb. 19.

On April 16, the council held the public hearing for the ordinance in abeyance and voted 3–2 to table it so that it can be revised by Borough Attorney John McCann. It will be reintroduced and renoticed.

The borough planner said that the language in the ordinance was inconsistent with the 2015 Master Plan amendment.

Also April 16, residents at the public microphone questioned the amount and negotiations behind the Block 419 redeveloper’s relocation offer to the owners of Cork & Keg, at 188 Kinderkamack Road. The offer of approximately $31,000 strikes many as very low.

The council gave final approval to reinstating the Shade Tree Commission; announced the retirement of construction official Michael Sartori, effective July 31; and agreed to hold a hearing on an amendment to the 2019 Municipal Budget.

In unfinished business, the mayor and council continued discussion of banning hookah lounges and vaping shops; discussed the pet shop ordinance; and discussed video recording of meetings, to commence in September, Mayor Danielle DiPaola said.

Drive-thrus are a prohibited conditional use at eating and drinking places in the borough’s two retail commercial zones. It is understood that they are inappropriate in pedestrian zones such as the Central Business District.

The amenity emerged as a permitted conditional use in the 2015 Master Plan review and allowed Starbucks in on Kinderkamack Road with a drive-thru. That ordinance later was confirmed to be flawed.

The new governing body corrected the ordinance and said it plans to eliminate it.

The LUB finding on Master Plan compatibility says in part, “The Board does not note any inconsistencies between the proposed Ordinance and the 2017 Master Plan Reexamination Report.

The board does, however, note an inconsistency with the 2015 Master Plan Amendment in that the amendment indicates certain positive features of drive-throughs, specifically that such uses lessen parking demand, increase business activity and can assist with circulation patterns in parking areas.”

The LUB further “recognized the importance of specificity in the ordinance and noted that the proposed ordinance lacks specificity as to which types of drive-through establishments should be prohibited.”

The board said the proposed ordinance should be amended to permit only pharmacies, the post office, and banks as drive-through establishments and advised that definitions for drive-through restaurant and pharmacy  should be added to the ordinance. 

The LUB says that if the governing body determines to prohibit all drive-through restaurants, it recommends that the ordinance be modified to no longer permit a menu board, as menus boards are typically associated with drive-through or beverage service. 

In November 2018, nearly two months after the death of Leon Magnes, CEO of Wenesco Emerson LLC of Englewood Cliffs but with its attorneys fighting on, the company voluntarily withdrew its application for a Wendy’s at 411 Old Hook Road at Main Street, at the site of a long-vacant office building.

Westwood resident Pompilio John Sambogna told Pascack Press at the time, “We stopped [Wenesco] as of now putting in a fast food restaurant. We now have to have [Emerson] change the ordinance.”

In March, Old Hook Road resident Rick Sipala pressed back against a critic on a Pascack Press comment thread who had assailed the plaintiffs’ cause as “stupid and frivolous.”

Sipala said, “The town of Westwood simply was showing its support for its residents, which I commend. The current and past legal representation is being personally financed by a small group of residents that would be directly affected by fast food drive-thrus open till 2 a.m.”

He cited “The 1,000 vehicles per day visiting a Wendy’s where traffic is currently a big problem,” late night truck deliveries, litter, pollution, and a hit to property values as among the reasons neighbors objected.

“The fact of the matter is that fast food restaurants have no place in a small town like Emerson,” Sipala said.

Westwood Mayor John Birkner Jr. had explained he was concerned that there be an adequate buffer between the proposed business and his constituents’ homes.

“The only buffer is the yellow line painted down the middle of the street. I personally would oppose most of what Wendy’s is trying to do,” he said when his residents first turned out to ask Westwood’s help in the fight.