GLENMONT — Stewart’s Shops expansion proposal on its Frontage Road property is hung up on the need for a zoning variance to allow for a fuel island.
In June, Bethlehem Town Building Inspector Justin Harbinger informed Stewart’s Shops that its plan did not comply with town code and that he had denied its application. In particular, the diesel fuel island, which was to be erected in the front yard setback, is not allowed.
Stewart’s Shops is scheduled to appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday, July 21, at 6 p.m.
At least one of the two buildings is to be razed to make room for a new, 3,975-square-foot convenience store, a 2,000-square-foot fuel island with four pumps, and another 840-square-foot diesel canopy with two fuel islands. The chain will add an additional 6,000-gallon diesel tank to the fuel storage tanks already in place.
The proposal includes the merging of two neighboring parcels, the existing Stewart’s Shop on 33 Frontage Road, and Johnny B’s Glenmont Diner. The diner, which closed last June, was formally known as Miss Glenmont Diner. Because the second lot is not yet owned by the convenience store chain, its current owner was tasked with pleading with the town in the appeals affidavit.
“The project site is currently an active convenience store with self service gasoline,” stated John Behiri, owner of Johnny B’s Glenmont Diner. “As an allowed use, the proposed improvements will enhance the desired element of the Frontage Road corridor.”
Stewart’s Shops has had a storefront at the location since at least 1982, that’s when the deed to the nearly half-acre lot was sold to Dake Brothers, Inc.
The application was presented before the Bethlehem Economic Development and Planning Committee in March.