Chipotle Denied for Hamilton Township, NJ Location

Not so fast. It seemed as if the very first Chipotle in Hamilton Township was going to built where the old Lukoil gas station was on the corner of Whitehorse Mercerville Road and Route 33, but, after two very long Zoning Board meetings, the plans have been denied, according to TAPinto Hamilton/Robbinsville.

No word on whether the developers, Mercerville Equities, will search for another location in the township, but, locals think there are other vacancies worth considering like the old Kentucky Fried Chicken on Whitehorse Avenue near Investors Bank, or the old Cost Cutters strip mall area. There's certainly plenty of space there. Maybe that could be the beginning of a revitalization of that shopping center.

Several Hamilton residents who live behind where the proposed Chipotle was to be built spoke out against the plans at the latest meeting saying it would be detrimental to their neighborhood because of the increased traffic.

Resident Jay Dugan told the Board, "I don't think anyone here tonight has seen the benefit that this proposal makes, and that's what I'm here to question. I don't think it takes a table of engineers to see that you can't build a fast food restaurant 12 feet from someone's bedroom window. I hope that you consider all of these facts and you look at how this will affect our families and neighborhoods. We will be stuck with this restaurants for the rest of our lives, or at least until something happens, or until they move to another neighborhood and that what I don't think is fair."

In the end it was decided that Chipotle was not a good fit for that space. We'll have to wait and see if it pops up somewhere else.

In the meantime, you can get your Chipotle fix in Mercer Mall in Lawrence and in the shopping center where Lowes is on Route 1 North in West Windsor.