BJ's Wholesale Club-30 Route 17, Blk 501, Lot 5
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STONEFIELD August 4, 2020 Borough of Paramus Planning Board 1 West Jockish Square #1 Paramus, New Jersey 07652 RE: Traffic & Parking Assessment Report Proposed Fueling Service Addition to BJ’s Wholesale Club Block 501, Lot 5 and Block 502, Lots 2.02 & 9 30 NJSH Route 17 North Borough of Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey SE&D Job No. S-19114 Dear Board Members: Stonefield Engineering and Design, LLC (“Stonefield”) has prepared this analysis to examine the potential traffic and parking impacts of the proposed fuel service addition to the existing BJ’s Wholesale Club on the adjacent roadway network. The subject property is located along NJSH Route 17 North to the south of NJSH Route 4 in the Borough of Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey. The subject property is designated as Block 501, Lot 5, and Block 502, Lot 9 and 2.02 as depicted on the Borough of Paramus Tax Map. The site has approximately 905 feet of frontage along the NJSH Route 17 North off-ramp to NJSH Route 4. The existing site is currently developed with a BJ’s Wholesale Club. Access is currently provided via one (1) right-turn ingress- only driveway along NJSH Route 17 North, one (1) right-turn ingress-only driveway along South Farview Avenue, and one (1) right-turn egress-only driveway along South Farview Avenue. Under the proposed development program, a fueling station with 10 fueling positions would be constructed in the southerly portion of the existing parking area. The construction of the fueling station would result in a net reduction to the overall parking supply of 103 parking spaces, and 445 parking spaces would be provided for the existing BJ’s Wholesale Club. The existing building footprint and access to the site is proposed to remain as is. Existing Condition The subject property is located along NJSH Route 17 North to the south of NJSH Route 4 in the Borough of Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey. The subject property is designated as Block 501, Lot 5, and Block 502, Lot 9 and 2.02 as depicted on the Borough of Paramus Tax Map. The site has approximately 905 feet of frontage along the NJSH Route 17 North off-ramp to NJSH Route 4. Land uses in the area are a mix of commercial and residential uses. NJSH Route 17 is classified as an Urban Principal Arterial Freeway/Expressway with a general north- south orientation and is under jurisdiction of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). At the location of the existing site driveway, NJSH Route 17 North provides three (3) lanes of northbound through travel, two (2) lanes for the NJSH Route 17 North off-ramp connecting to NJSH Route 4, and an exclusive right- turn lane serving the site driveway. NJSH Route 17 has a posted speed limit of 50 mph. Curb is provided along both sides of the roadway, sidewalk and shoulders are not provided, and on-street parking is not permitted. NJSH Route 17 provides north-south mobility throughout Bergen County and provides connections to the NJSH Route 4, Garden State Parkway, and Interstate 287 to the north and Interstate 80, U.S. Route 46, NJSH Route 120, and NJSH Route 3 to the south serving predominately retail uses along its length. stonefieldeng.com 92 Park Avenue, Rutherford, NJ 07070 201.340.4468 t. 201.340.4472 f. BJ’s Fueling Service Addition Borough of Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey August 4, 2020 Page 2 of 6 South Farview Avenue (County Route 61) is classified as an Urban Minor Arterial roadway with a general north-south orientation and is under the jurisdiction of Bergen County. In the vicinity of the site, the roadway provides one (1) lane of travel in each direction and has a posted speed limit of 35 mph. Curb and sidewalk are provided along both sides of the roadway, shoulders are not provided, and on-street parking is not permitted. Farview Avenue provides north-south mobility throughout Bergen County and provides connections to NJSH Route 17 to the south for predominantly residential uses along its length. Trip Generation The Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) Trip Generation Manual, 10th Edition was reviewed to prepare trip generation projections for the proposed fueling service addition. Trip generation rates associated with Land Use 857 “Discount Club” are typically cited for BJ’s Wholesale Clubs, however, it is noted that the ITE Trip Generation Manual, 10th Edition, description for Land Use 857 “Discount Club” states “Some sites may include on-site fueling pumps.” As such, trip generation projections for the proposed development utilizing rates associated with Land Use 857 “Discount Club” would not increase for the addition of fueling services. It is likely that the addition of fueling services would increase the trip generation of the subject property. To develop a trip generation for the proposed fueling service addition, the existing trip generation of the fueling portion of the BJ’s Wholesale Club located in Linden, New Jersey was evaluated. The data collection effort included the number of hourly fuel transactions for the Linden site from Sunday, June 9, 2019 to Saturday, June 15, 2019. Based on a review of the data, the number of fueling transactions experience peaks during the typical weekday midday, weekday evening, and Saturday midday time periods, and within each time period the peak hour was determined. It is noted the data does not allow for the enter/exit trip distribution to be determined. Therefore, the enter/exit trip distribution rates associated with Land Use 944 “Gasoline/Service Station” were cited for each time period. Table 1 provides the existing weekday midday, weekday evening, and Saturday midday trip volumes associated with the fueling portion of the Linden site. TABLE 1 – EXISTING FUELING TRIP GENERATION – LINDEN Weekday Midday Weekday Evening Saturday Midday Peak Hour Peak Hour Peak Hour Land Use Enter Exit Total Enter Exit Total Enter Exit Total BJ’s Linden Fueling Station 98 98 196 104 104 208 121 121 242 Existing Trips (As Counted) It is noted that the Paramus site and Linden site are located on roadways with significantly different roadway volumes as the Paramus site is located along NJSH Route 17 which carries an average daily traffic volume of 114,838 vehicles per day and the Linden site is located along U.S. Route 1/9 which carries an average daily traffic of 62,314 vehicles per day. To account for the difference in roadway volumes, a ratio was applied to the trips generated by the fueling component for the Linden site to generate the Paramus fueling trips. Further, discount club fueling patrons often visit both the fueling pumps and the discount club in a single trip. Based on data provided by BJ’s Wholesale Club for the Linden site from April 2019 to February 2020, approximately 52% of trips to the fueling component are comprised of customers that were also visiting the discount club. The subject site would be particularly suited to these types of trips as customers of the BJ’s Wholesale Club may utilize the fueling component without needing to traverse public streets, reducing the potential for impacts on the surrounding roadway network. As such, not all trips generated by the fueling component are new to the roadway network as a portion of the trips are expected to be internally captured trips. As stated within Chapter 10 of ITE’s Trip Generation Handbook, 3rd Edition, there are instances when the total number of trips generated by a site is different from the amount of new traffic added to the street system by the generator. Gasoline stations are specifically located on or adjacent to busy streets to attract BJ’s Fueling Service Addition Borough of Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey August 4, 2020 Page 3 of 6 motorists already on the roadway. Therefore, the gasoline station use associated with the development would be expected to attract a portion of its trips from the traffic passing the site on the way from an origin to an ultimate destination. These trips do not add new traffic to the adjacent roadway system and are referred to as pass-by trips. Based upon the published ITE data for Land Use 944 “Gasoline/Service Station,” 62% of the site-generated traffic during the weekday morning and 56% during the weekday evening peak hour is comprised of pass-by traffic. It is noted that the Trip Generation Handbook does not contain pass-by data for the Saturday midday peak hour. However, it is logical that an interaction comparable to the weekday evening peak period would occur during the Saturday midday peak period. As such, the weekday evening pass-by rate has been utilized for the Saturday midday peak hour. Table 2 shows the adjusted site-generated traffic for the proposed fueling service addition after applying the appropriate trip adjustments to account for increased trip generation, internal trip capture, and pass-by traffic. TABLE 2 – PROPOSED TRIP GENERATION – NEW & PASS-BY TRIPS Weekday Midday Weekday Evening Saturday Midday Peak Hour Peak Hour Peak Hour Land Use Enter Exit Total Enter Exit Total Enter Exit Total Linden Fuel Trips 98 98 196 104 104 208 121 121 242 Paramus Fuel Trips – 84% Increase 180 180 360 191 191 382 223 223 446 Internally Captured Trips – 52% -94 -94 -188 -99 -99 -198 -116 -116 -232 Pass-By Trips -53 -53 -106 -52 -52 -104 -60 -60 -120 Total “New” Trips 33 33 66 40 40 80 47 47 94 In addition to fueling service being a permitted use, the proposed development is expected to generate 94 “new” trips during the critical Saturday midday peak hour.