STRATFORD — Owners of a planned “fine dining" Indian restaurant can continue renovations to a 43 South White Horse Pike commercial building — though a hoped-for December opening might not happen.
A sign advertising Sankalp, "The Taste of India,” is already in place and interior work is advanced. Stratford Borough officials granted site plan approval Monday night. This also covered a smaller retail space that's to be created in the same building.
Co-owners Punit Shah and Malav Patel, who testified about the project, said afterward that the site is well-situated in an area with a growing Indian community.
“In this area, with the growing population and how the town is growing, there’s no `fine-dining’ Indian restaurant,” Patel said. “The couple Indian restaurants you have are outdated, in my opinion.”
The restaurant also is close to India Bazaar Asian-Indian Supermarket at 35 South White Horse Pike. The supermarket will be a handy source of Indian food supplies, Sankalp owners said.
Both a restaurant and a retail store are allowed in that area of the Pike, but borough ordinance required members of the joint land use board to review the proposal. The board voted 7-1 n favor of the development, which fended off some criticism at the hearing from a law firm with a neighboring office.
The building in question is 8,066 square feet in size and recently hosted a business school. Realty Whitehorse LLC of Maryland, which bought the property last year, is the site plan applicant.
Project attorney Kevin Diduch said the restaurant and retail store dimensions were revised in order to comply with parking requirements. The revisions downsize the retail component to 3,250 square feet. The restaurant comes in at 5,000 square feet now.
Diduch said the restaurant seating was dropped from about 75 to 60 as well. The plan for 36 parking spaces in total now also complies with the ordinance.
Project engineer Joseph Mancini said the property, as bought, needed various rehabilitation efforts including the parking and drive aisle components.
Attorney Stuart Platt asked the board not to approve the application, saying it wasn't complete.
He added that he was concerned about possible negative impacts on his law office at 40 Berlin Road. The properties are adjacent, separated by a fence.
Ultimately, the board decided to approve the proposal while leaving its professional staff to ensure outstanding planning items, such as a landscaping plan, are submitted.
The board meeting schedule calls for its next gathering to be in January, which would put off the board’s next responsibility of reviewing and voting on a written resolution of approval.
To avoid further complications, members decided to schedule a special one-item meeting for Dec. 16 to finalize the approval for Realty Whitehorse.
Patel told the board owners had hoped to be open Dec. 1 before learning a board review was necessary.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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