Advance Robbinsville
JULY 2019
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From eyesore to eatery Sports bar to occupy USA Country Diner lot on Route 130 By roB antheS
ranthes@communitynews.org
The USA Country Diner has sat vacant for 15 years along Route 130 in Robbinsville, but the lot won’t be abandoned for much longer. Demolition has started at the property, with township officials saying the diner will be knocked down completely. A new building housing a casual restaurant and sports bar will replace the diner. After years of work to renew the property, Robbinsville
Township council acknowledged this important step during its June 13 meeting. The planning board previously approved a developer’s agreement with Akal Estates, LLC last year. Akal Estates bought the 2-acre lot with the diner at 1380 Route 130 in February 2017 for $1.25 million. It had been owned by Chrysoula LLC since December 2006. Akal Estates owns other properties in the area, according to real estate records, including 3666 Klockner Road in Hamilton, home to City Auto Center II. The eatery would expand a growing dining scene in town. Just last month, Robbinsville welcomed a new addition when
PJ’s Pancake House opened May 28. For more on PJ’s, see Page 15. The diner’s demolition also is another step in the progress being made on Route 130 within Robbinsville Township. A Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram car dealership plans to open in late 2019 on the northbound side of the road. In Windsor, construction will start this summer on a new gas station with a bagel shop and convenience store. Then, in 2020, a Wawa gas station and market will go up at the intersection of Route 130 South and Meadowbrook Road. Next to Wawa will be additional retail sites. There are no details yet on potential tenants.
New roles, familiar faces Pair of residents are ‘go-to people’ in prosecutor’s office By JULia marnin
Mustakeem Ayuby holds on to his diploma, mortar board and a bunch of flowers after graduating Robbinsville High School June 21, 2019 in a ceremony at the school’s turf field. For more photos from graduation, turn to Page 10. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
It was not a typical Mother’s Day for Amy Devenny when her role as one of the top prosecutors in Mercer County required her to rush out to a murder scene at 3 in the morning. It is not unusual for her to be called in when a major crime occurs. Luckily, she made it home by 7 a.m., before her two daughters realized she was gone. Devenny’s friend and fellow top prosecutor Stephanie Katz can relate to the demands of the job, as they pursue justice prosecuting offenders for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Both Robbinsville residents
were promoted on May 1. Katz was named first assistant prosecutor, with Devenny assuming Katz’s prior position of deputy first assistant prosecutor. “This office stands out from other counties in that there are many women at the top of the office,” Devenny says. Head prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri was in charge of their recent promotions. “I’ve been in the office for 23 years, and we’ve all come up through the ranks together,” he says. As first assistant prosecutor, Katz does not have a typical dayto-day schedule. She oversees the office’s investigative units, so her work can vary from being called to a crime scene at any time, to handling meetings at the office, to observing court proceedings, to spending
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an entire day at her desk with phone calls and emails. “The first assistant prosecutor is a critical pick for any county prosecutor because, in the prosecutor’s absence, it’s the first assistant who runs the day-to-day operations of the office,” Onofri says. Katz has spent 11 years total in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. After her first five years, she left to work for a private practice firm called McManimon and Scotland, handling public finance. She returned in 2004, and has worked for many of the office’s units: Juvenile, Domestic Violence, Trial Team, Special Victims, Project Safe Neighborhoods, Homicide and Special Investigations. She has served as a trial team See MCPO, Page 8
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