Preliminary plan approved for Royal Farms on Route 9
The preliminary site plan for a Royal Farms convenience store at Route 9 and Nassau Commons Boulevard was approved Nov. 19 by the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission.
The 5,380-square-foot store is planned for the northwest corner of the intersection. Plans include fuel pumps and a canopy.
A project completed recently to improve the intersection includes a traffic light that was scheduled to be activated Nov. 21.
The work was required by the state to allow resumption of construction on the Vineyards housing and commercial development that fronts on Route 9 just west of the intersection with Nassau Commons Boulevard.
Assistant County Attorney Vince Robertson said for Royal Farms, a site-plan approval from the commission is the only approval required for the project. No public hearing was needed.
“This is a permitted use within that C-1 commercial district; it has been that way for decades,” Robertson said.
“So for the record, we don’t really have any option but to approve this because it’s a permitted use, right?” asked Commissioner G. Scott Collins.
“Well, it’s permitted, but ... you can look at the site plan [and] if you have revisions you want to make or concerns, you have the ability to do that as long as it is within what is permitted,” Robertson said.
“But to answer your question more succinctly, you don’t have the ability to deny it,” he added.
The preliminary site plan was approved 4-0, with Commissioner J. Bruce Mears absent.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
