By a 4-3 margin, members of the Gloucester County Planning Commission voted to recommend the removal of the proffers on the former Rite Aid property at Gloucester Point, which would allow the site to be turned into a 7-Eleven by right during its regular monthly meeting held last Thursday in the colonial courthouse.
Moises Castro c/o Verdad Real Estate submitted a rezoning application to reclassify the property from General Business (B-1, conditional) to B-1, which would remove all proffered conditions associated with a previous rezoning application in order to develop the convenience store.
The property was originally zoned as B-3 (office business) until 2003 when it was developed as an Eckerd pharmacy and retail store under a B-1 rezoning, which included proffered conditions regarding the building and site layout.
Eckerd was then rebranded as Rite Aid, which permanently closed in January 2024 and the parcel has sat vacant ever since. The property can be currently developed as long as it maintains the architecture and site layout as proffered in 2003. Any changes would require county removal of the proffers.
Several residents sent in comments to be read during the application’s public hearing, all expressing their disapproval of the proffers being removed to create a 7-Eleven.
“There are at least 13 gas stations in the same vicinity,” stated Elbamarie Burgos. “Gloucester Point is such an up-and-coming area. It deserves to have some things that better serve the growing community.”
“Gloucester Point has a distinct character that residents have worked hard to preserve,” wrote Marie Jordan. “The corner of Hook Road and U.S. 17 is a prominent and visible gateway to our community. A large-format convenience store and gas station at this location would be inconsistent with the character and quality of the development that residents expect and deserve at such a prominent site.”
“Introducing a high-volume, 24-hour corporate footprint to an intersection that is already surrounded by identical options is the definition of commercial redundancy,” stated Judith Williams.
Before commissioners began their discussion on the rezoning application, chair John Meyer provided his perspective on the case.
Meyer said the issue facing the board is if the property “should continue to be a B-1 with the encumbrances removed, thus giving it the flexibility to be used as commercial property in the same way any other B-1 zoned property in that area would be. The fact that the applicant is 7-Eleven, in my opinion, is not relevant to the discussion.”
Commission member James Gray made the point that the Walgreens located nearby could move into the former Rite Aid building and sell its site to 7-Eleven, which would both be by-right uses according to the current zoning.
“The biggest beneficiary of it [the proffers] is Walgreens,” said Gray. “Because they could sell their property at an inflated rate, move next door and then tear that building down and put whatever is allowed by right in B-1.”
Planning commissioner Douglas Johnson brought up safety concerns of having a 7-Eleven developed at that location.
“You want to put a high-flow convenience store on the northside of that intersection on the southbound, which is going to be horrible for traffic safety and flow at Hook and Guinea Road,” said Johnson.
In addition, state legislation regarding proffers is different today than it was in 2003. “They would use proffers for potential leverage to get things that the county wanted that weren’t necessarily purely in line with the comprehensive plan,” said Meyer.
“I think the idea back in 2003 was that if anything other than an Eckerd went there, they would have to come back to the board,” said Anne Ducey-Ortiz, Director of Gloucester Planning, Zoning & Environmental Programs.
“If the proffers remain, then we could have a vacant building there for another 10 years,” said commissioner Natalie Johnson.
The planning commission voted 4-3 to recommend removal of the proffers on the site to the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors, with Tanner Hurst, Douglas Johnson and Chris Poulson dissenting.
Day care
Also, during the meeting, the planning commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of a conditional use permit that would allow Stephenson’s Child Care & Development Center to reopen and resume its operations.
After closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the business lost its grandfathered status to operate in the single-family (SF-1) zoning district since it existed before Gloucester County had an established zoning ordinance. This requires Stephenson’s to obtain a CUP from the county to reopen.
The currently unoccupied building is located on the north side of Powhatan Drive beside Abingdon Elementary School and rests on a 0.83-acre lot. The other surrounding land uses are all residential.
The Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings for both of these applications at a future meeting.