Bolla Market Planned For Walt Whitman Road

Garden City-based gas station and convenience store company Bolla is eying this 1010 Walt Whitman Road site in Melville for its first Town of Huntington location. (Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach)

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A busy intersection in Melville could see the addition of the first Bolla market in town, according to a zone change application being considered by town hall officials.

Plans were submitted by Bolla to the town’s planning department in June 2017. Bolla wants the zone change so it can convert the existing vehicle service station at 1010 Walt Whitman Road into a 1,286-square-foot convenience store and operate four gas pumps on the property.

The store would sell prepackaged food, tobacco, lottery tickets and other convenience store items, along with petroleum products.

Plans show that the proposal would meet the town code requirement of seven on-site parking spaces.

Garden City-based Bolla operates gas stations and convenience stores in New York City, New Jersey and Long Island, including five in Suffolk.

The 10,910-square-foot Walt Whitman Road property at the intersection with Broadhollow and Old Country roads is currently home to a pair of Shell gas pumps and a service station.

In order for the plan to move forward, it needs a zone change to convert the property from C-6 General Business to C-11 Automotive Service Station District.

The town planning board voted April 11 to send the zone change application to the town board for public hearings and a vote.

The planners also recommended the town board require Bolla conduct an additional traffic safety study to ensure the proposed changes to the site would not increase dangerous traffic in the already busy intersection.

A call for comment to Bolla was not returned before deadline Wednesday.

If the zone change is approved by the town board, Bolla’s plan would then move before the zoning board, which would likely consider several setback variances.