By Joshua Burd
A proposed ShopRite in Wyckoff that has faced a lengthy court battle could open by late next year, following a state appeals court ruling that paves the way for its operator to move forward.
The operator, Mahwah-based Inserra Supermarkets, had faced opposition from a nearby Stop & Shop and shopping center owner. But Inserra announced this week that a state Appellate Division judge has ruled in its favor, dismissing the final three counts in a 14-count complaint filed by its opponents.
The Aug. 18 decision, handed down in Hackensack, upheld lower court rulings. Inserra said it’s now targeting December 2017 for the opening of its planned ShopRite of Wyckoff, a 62,042-square-foot store slated for the corner of Greenwood and Wyckoff avenues.
“The entire Inserra Supermarkets family is delighted to finally be that much closer to bringing a state-of-the-art ShopRite to the residents of Wyckoff and the surrounding communities,” Lawrence Inserra Jr., chairman and CEO of Inserra Supermarkets, said in a prepared statement.
The family-owned grocery chain, which owns and operates 22 ShopRite stores in New Jersey and New York, had earned the unanimous approval of the Wyckoff planning board in February 2013. In a news release, Inserra said the approval followed 38 public meetings over a three-year period, but noted that the ongoing litigation has stalled the start of construction.
In its opposition, Stop & Shop contended the planning board did not have jurisdiction to consider Inserra’s application, citing the zoning of the property. The supermarket chain also raised questions about a conflict of interest with the planning board’s traffic expert and alleged the panel “improperly used work sessions to plan strategy.”
It was not immediately clear if Stop & Shop planned to file an appeal. A voicemail message left Wednesday afternoon for the store’s attorney, Gail L. Price of Woodcliff Lake-based Price, Meese, Shulman & D’Arminio P.C., was not immediately returned.
Inserra said building designs and heights of the planned ShopRite of Wyckoff “reflect the historic character and architecture of surrounding commercial and residential buildings.” The company also plans to install almost an acre of new landscaping that will “significantly enhance the site and exceed” the township’s green space requirements.
“As with every other step in the process, be it Wyckoff, Bergen County or the Superior Courts, we are confident that the application of Inserra Supermarkets met every criteria to warrant and sustain all approvals,” said Jim Jaworski, counsel for Inserra Supermarkets.
