Medport Diner in Medford would be demolished under developer's plan to build retail, Chipotle.

The 45-year-old Medport Diner on Route 70 in Medford would be demolished and retail stores and an advance-order-only Chipotle Mexican Grill would be built in its place, according to a proposal before the Township zoning board.

If the plans are approved, the diner will disappear like other South Jersey diners as generational dining tastes have changed and the land under the buildings has proven valuable.

While the Medport Diner is relatively new for New Jersey diners and followed the suburban growth along Route 70, the building's ancestry goes back decades.

The structure was the original Cherry Hill Ponzio's diner on Route 70, but was moved to Medford in 1979 to become the Medport when Ponzio's took on a major expansion. Before Ponzio's moved into the old building in Cherry Hill, it was the Ellisburg Diner.

J&J Development Group LLC of 701 Route 70 in Marlton is the developer of the Medport Diner property, according to zoning board records. The property is owned by Pandora HC LLC of Mount Holly.

J&J's application is on the agenda for the Zoning Board of Adjustment's February 21 meeting.

"Applicant proposes to demolish the existing restaurant building and to establish, construct and maintain an approximately 13,905 square foot multi-tenant retail shopping center to include a Chipotle restaurant with a pickup-only window to be accessed via a pickup lane," according to the developer's lawyer, Stephanie E. Farrell of Nehmad Davis & Goldstein of Egg Harbor Township.

Retail shopping is a permitted use under zoning law, but the developer would need approval from the board because the drive-through window would be within 1,500 feet of the drive-through lanes of the Popeyes fast-food chicken restaurant in the shopping center.

However, the applicant emphasized the Chipotle window would be for food ordered in advance. The Chipotle would have no ordering area.

A traffic study submitted with the developer's application estimated a decline in weekday morning traffic and an increase of 30 vehicles during the weekday evening peak hour and 41 in the Saturday midday peak hour.