ROXBURY, NJ - The people working on the yet-to-open Popeyes Louisiana Chicken restaurant in Ledgewood went “rogue,” ignoring elements of the approved site plan only to seek lenience after the fact, according to the Roxbury Planning Board.
The situation prompted some on the board to express frustration and anger at the Sept. 17 board meeting. The session saw scolding by a number of board members about the way some parts of the project – including the sidewalks and signage – were not built according to the site plan.
Suggesting the applicant was engaging in ignore-the-rules-and-ask-forgiveness-later behavior, Roxbury Planning Board Chairman Charlie Bautz said the board was no longer in the mood to give “leeway,” in the form of conformance waivers.
“I do not have faith in either the owner of the Popeyes or the contractor that he hired to do the work,” he told representatives of the franchisee at the meeting. “It was supposed to be done months ago.”
Although he said he was “trying to stay calm and bubbly” about the situation, Bautz – and other board members – sternly said the developer or its workers were wasting the board’s time by ignoring the site plan’s specifics. “I want you to open,” he said. “I want it open. But you're making it as hard as possible.”
Commenting at the meeting, Roxbury Councilman Jim Rilee, who is also on the planning board, said town officials are unfairly being blamed by the public for the delayed opening.
“Months ago, we said, ‘Fix it and come back,’” said Rilee. “You did nothing until the last two days … And to hear now that stuff's still not done; we're way past that phase.”
He said he “can’t trust” promises made by the people in charge of the project.
At the board meeting, the applicant's representatives, including the project manager, Jibran Khan, were apologetic. “We got here because there were mistakes,” Khan said.
Khan and the applicant’s attorney told the board that the missteps were the result of “miscommunication” and on-the-fly decisions made during construction. They insisted the issues — including noncompliant ADA ramps, misplaced signage and exposed construction details — were either already corrected or scheduled to be fixed within days.
Khan said an unapproved “I Love Chicken” wall sign was a misunderstanding by his sign company and was removed the day after it went up. The team urged the board to allow the project to move forward, stressing they were committed to making the restaurant look right and open as soon as possible.
But the board members suggested they were tired of the promises.
“They told us they're going to do it, they told us they're going to do it a certain way, and they didn't do it that way,” Rilee said. “They decided to do it their own way … and now you're telling us, ‘We’ll get to it.’ That doesn't work. Sorry. I mean, we have residents getting mad at us because they think we're slowing you down. Believe it or not, it's a joke. It's a joke that we have to sit here going through this stuff.”
At one point, he reminded the applicants of their obligations bluntly: “There’s a site plan that you follow, correct? You need relief, you come to this board. It’s very simple. You don’t make it up as you go.”
Despite the criticisms, there were some moments of humor during the meeting. “I haven't had a fried piece of chicken in nine months,” joked Rilee at one point.
The board is scheduled to again deal with the Popeyes application at its Oct. 22 meeting.
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