Council postpones rezoning

Decision made to hold off on Route 535 ordinance.

By: Sharlee DiMenichi
   The Township Council voted Tuesday to hold off on an ordinance that could have allowed the construction of warehousing and distribution centers on 140 acres of land at the intersection of Route 535 and Dunhams Corner Road.
   The ordinance was tabled by a vote of 3-1. The property is on the East Brunswick border.
   If approved, the zoning of the area would have changed from rural residential to limited industrial/rural residential. Permitted uses under the new zone include a wholesale distribution center, warehousing, light industry and residential development. Only single-family houses are allowed under the current zoning.
   However, a use variance was granted last year that allowed for the construction of three yet-to-be-built warehouses in the same area.
   Council members said they would revisit the ordinance after the Planning Board has commented on a proposal to make the township Master Plan consistent with the zoning change. The board was scheduled to meet Wednesday evening.
   About 50 residents, filled the meeting room to oppose the change. They said the change would have a negative impact on traffic, the environmental sensitivity of the zone, which is an aquifer recharge area and home to the headwaters of the Ireland Brook, a source of drinking water for New Brunswick.
   "We feel that the passing of this ordinance would lead to environmental degradation," said Michael Shakarjian of the Lawrence Brook Watershed Partnership, an environmental group.
   Others said traffic congestion in the area would be exacerbated by trucks making deliveries to warehouses approved to be built on the property.
   "The traffic has gotten so bad, sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to get out of my driveway," said Tim Buhl of Dunhams Corner Road.
   Nicolette Thorne of Fresh Ponds Road expressed similar concerns. She said two of her dogs and seven of her cats have been killed by speeding traffic nearby.
   "I’ve seen a truck do a U-turn on my front lawn," Ms. Thorne said.
   On March 7, 2002, the township zoning board approved a conceptual plan and use variance requested by K&K Developers on March 7, 2002 to build three warehouses on 129 acres of the property. The buildings would occupy about 2 million square feet.
   A dozen residents in the area appealed the use variance decision to the township. They said because of trucks using existing warehouses in the area they already cause air and noise pollution.
   Rezoning the area would mean K&K Developers would not have to return to the zoning board for permission to add to or change the buildings they construct.
   According to Township Attorney Don Sears, it also would contradict the township Master Plan. He said an ordinance that goes against the Master Plan must be accompanied by a council resolution supporting it. The council also must show the change is based on sound planning and is not arbitrary or capricious.
   "Rezoning against the Master Plan is a form of art," Mr. Sears said.
   Councilman Edmund Luciano, also a member of the Planning Board, said that the board chairman, Daljit Bais, asked the council to table the ordinance until after the Planning Board meeting.
   Mr. Bais declined to comment on the proposed Master Plan change or the rezoning.
   Assistant Township Planner Brian Sullivan said potential advantages to the rezoning include having the property fit with warehouse development in the area, which is contained on one side of the Turnpike, and providing water and sewer service to the area, which would eliminate the pollution risks posed by septic systems nearby. The proposed warehouses would sit on a designated truck route and delivery trucks would have direct access to Route 535, Mr. Sullivan said.
   Mr. Sullivan said possible drawbacks to rezoning included an increase in truck traffic, contradicting the state’s designation of the tract as environmentally sensitive, an increase in impervious coverage and necessitating a change to the township’s utility Master Plan. Mr. Sullivan said the township Planning Board reaffirmed the current zoning in the 2001 Master Plan.
   Mayor Frank Gambatese has said he supports the change and that warehouse traffic will stay in that section of town because of its proximity to the NJ Turnpike. He also said he would like to see water and sewer lines put in to facilitate connections to nearby houses. Mayor Gambatese said he fears septic systems on adjacent properties could cause pollution.
   "If a septic system fails, there’s only one place for it to go, and that’s into the soil," Mayor Gambatese said.
   According to township sewer records, there are two houses and a church on properties adjacent to the parcel. One house is connected to the township sewer while the other buildings are not.
   Jean Dvorak, one of the residents who appealed the zoning board decision, said she finds paving and traffic she associates with the construction project as environmentally threatening as lack of sewers.
   "I don’t see that septic systems are any more dangerous, when they’re properly designed, than the spillage of diesel fuel and the changing of the runoff and all the impervious surface," Ms. Dvorak said previously.
   Ms. Dvorak said Tuesday that the area should remain zoned as is to prevent environmental damage from industrial development.
   Ms. Dvorak said 56 acres of the land was previously No. 5 on the township Open Space Advisory Committee’s wish list when the use variance was granted.
   Ms. Dvorak said even with road improvements that the Planning Board could require as conditions of site plan approval, traffic in the area would remain a problem.
   "If you widen the road and double the road, you still have two miles of traffic backed up," Ms. Dvorak said.
   She also said the township had repeatedly zoned the land for rural residential development and that township Planner Craig Marshall had once objected to rezoning it.
   Mr. Marshall said Tuesday that he now supports the rezoning because township zoning policy should change as the township develops.
   Mitigating the potential impact of continued development on East Brunswick was on the minds of several East Brunswick residents who spoke at the meeting.
   East Brunswick’s Township attorney, Lawrence Sachs, said he supported tabling the ordinance.
   "I think it’s necessary to have Planning Board input," Mr. Sachs said.
   Mr. Sachs said he fears the rezoning will lead to industrial development that would bring increased noise and air pollution.
   Councilman Luciano said South Brunswick should not concern itself primarily with the impact of development on East Brunswick.
   "The reality is you’re there. You have 600 homes, you’re riding Cranbury (Road). You’re part of the problem," Mr. Luciano told East Brunswick residents.
   South Brunswick residents voiced exasperation with the council for tabling the ordinance rather than defeating it.
   "They’re just looking at the ratables. They don’t care about the people of the town," Mr. Buhl said.