Sonic Hearing Continues Tonight

A hearing for a proposed Sonic restaurant on Route 206 continues during tonight’s Planning Board Meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. in the Municipal Courtroom.

Though the applicant’s, Thomas Mascia, site plan proposal is complete, the Jan. 13 hearing ended prior to public comment on the plan—and many of the comments stem from residents who opposed the plan at several previous meetings.

Many of the residents live in the area of Oxford Drive, Pierson Road and surrounding streets, and say the plan is too aggressive for the neighborhood.

The proposal would have the restaurant in the lot formerly occupied by Briken’s Dairy Farms on Route 206 South.  The plan requests 22 waivers and five variances, including lot size, lot width, distance from surrounding streets, waivers for parking and a waiver allowing a 17-foot-high and 80-square-foot wide sign.

The applicant’s attorney, Donald Whitelaw, brought in several witnesses at earlier meetings to testify on traffic, odors, site design and other concerns.  According to the testimony, the site is expected to draw 23 extra cars on weekdays and28 car on weekends.

For residents in the area, it’s a plan that’s simply too large, too aggressive and would create problems with traffic, odors, noise and other factors.  As a result, they formed a non-profit entity, Save Our Neighborhood, to counter the application.

“There are numerous residents who do not feel that a Sonic in our neighborhood is appropriate or a good fit and we have rallied them together to help in this fight,” Denise Acocella, organization president, said.  “We have requested financial help to pay for the legal and expert testimony needed to stop this application from being approved and many residents have donated money to Save Our Neighborhood, for this cause.”

“As has been evident in the last few board meetings, the residents of our neighborhood are against this Sonic being built and are showing their support by attending these meetings and helping financially,” she added.   “We can only hope that the Board listens to us and our concerns and votes down this application.”

Most of the donations have come from residents in the neighborhood, she added.  Thus far, the donations have funded an attorney, Ron Gasiorowski, a traffic and noise expert, Alexander Litwornia, and a planner, who has not yet presented to the board, Acocella said.

Previous testimony by the residents’ traffic expert, Litwornia, suggested the plan would cause noise, odor and other problems from site traffic, particularly with the proximity to Hillsborough High School.