Somerset Planning Board Unanimously Backs Rezoning of Blighted Route 6 Gas Station Site

SOMERSET -- April 14, 2026, Somerset Planning Board unanimously backs rezoning of long-vacant Route 6 gas station, while declining to pick among three contested legal fixes for the Slates Ferry Crossing overlay bylaw. The board voted 5-0 to recommend to town meeting that two parcels owned by JLK Realty and Development LLC, 266 Slates Ferry Boulevard and a vacant Brayton Avenue strip, be rezoned from a three-way patchwork of business, limited business, and Slates Ferry Crossing overlay designations to a single business district. Owner Jamie Emerson told the board he spent roughly $450,000 clearing back taxes and $40,000 relocating utility lines after buying the blighted, formerly rat-infested site, and disclosed a pending purchase-and-sale agreement with a Meineke franchise contingent on the rezoning. On a separate Slates Ferry bylaw matter, the board voted 4-1 to make no recommendation on three legal-language options offered by town counsel after member Nicole McDonald argued none was legally defensible, saying the revision "is just setting the town up for litigation." The board also re-elected Gary Simons as chair and appointed Tim Turner as vice chair.