Development

NO MORE WAREHOUSES – Environmental Commissioner Robin Suydam said at the meeting that too many trees have already been sacrificed for development. The Environmental Commission on October 16 decided to recommend that the Township Zoning Board of Adjustment not approve an application for a warehouse at Weston Canal and Cottontail roads. The application, submitted by Somerset Properties Realty, calls for …

An application to build a 91,000-square-foot warehouse on a vacant lot on Atrium Drive is set to be heard October 4 by the Planning Board. The one-story building would have 81,065-square-feet of warehouse space, a mezzanine, 43 parking spaces and 13 loading docks, according to the application. The project is targeted for a roughly 5-acre plot on Atrium Drive extension, …

MOVE TO DENY – Planning Board member Robert Thomas explains his reasons for moving to deny the B9 application. An application to build two warehouses across from the Canal Walk housing development was unanimously rejected September 26 by the Planning Board. The vote came after months of Board hearings, sometimes acrimonious testimony and regular attendance at the meetings by more …

MAKING A POINT – Bob Smith, attorney for Parker at Somerset, speaks to the Zoning Board during the September 7 hearing. The Parker at Somerset rehabilitation center won Zoning Board of Adjustment approval for its plan to re-stripe its parking lot and create an outpatient rehabilitation facility at the September 7 Board meeting. Meanwhile, a township couple wishing to build a …

OPPOSITION IS HEARD – Mary Paist-Goldman testifies about the B9 Schoolhouse warehouse project’s water management plan while attorney Stuart Lieberman looks on. Opponents of a proposed two-warehouse development at Schoolhouse and Mettlers roads got the chance on July 19 to convince the Planning Board that the application should not be approved. The opponents, the majority of whom are Canal Walk …

PAYING RAPT ATTENTION – More than 200 people crowded into the Board of Education community room at its Route 27 administrative campus July 5 for the third hearing on the proposed B9 warehouses. Testimony on changes to a plan to build more than 200,000 square feet of warehouse space at Mettlers and Schoolhouse roads elicited sometimes aggressive questioning from members …

YMCA ANNOUNCEMENT – Township Councilman Ram Anbarasan announced that a feasibility study concluded the township would support a YMCA branch. An idea that was first broached about 20 years ago, but never materialized, is coming back in focus. Officials at the Greater Somerset YMCA announced June 27 that a feasibility study recommended they move forward with placing a YMCA branch …

ON THE HOT SEAT – Corey Chase, a traffic engineer for the developer of the proposed B9 Schoolhouse warehouse project, testifies during the June 21 Planning Board hearing. The traffic engineer for the proposed B9 warehouses at Schoolhouse and Mettlers roads came under prolonged questioning from the Planning Board and public during a continuation of the application’s hearing at the …

SUPPORTIVE WORDS – Attorney Howard Cohen, representing the Canal Walk Homeowners’ Association, speaks to the Township Council at its June 13 meeting. Amendments to the Township’s Noise Ordinance which restrict the time that industrial-related loading and unloading operations, as well as the use of vehicles with backup beepers, can be used on properties that abut Scenic Corridors which are adjacent …

Amendments to the township’s noise ordinance that elicited applause from some Canal Walk residents opposed to a nearby warehouse application was introduced at the Township Council’s May 23 meeting. The ordinance restricts the time that industrial-related loading and unloading operations, as well as the use of vehicles with backup beepers, can be used on properties that abut Scenic Corridors which …