Border rezoning bid fails to pass

Council members kill ordinance
after months of consideration

By charles w. kim
Staff Writer

Council members kill ordinance
after months of consideration
By charles w. kim
Staff Writer

A move to rezone 127 acres on the border of South and East Brunswick is dead. South Brunswick Township Council members let the ordinance die during its meeting Tuesday night.

"There was no motion to bring it forward," Township Clerk Barbara Gut said.

The ordinance would have rezoned the 127 acres at the intersection of Route 535 (Cranbury-South River Road) and Dunhams Corner Road from rural residential to light industrial/rural residential. The council has considered the change in zoning since April. A final vote on the proposed ordinance was tabled until Tuesday night.

According to Mayor Frank Gambatese, K&K Developers asked the council to draft the ordinance for the zone change to guarantee DEP approval to run sewer lines to the site.

The township’s Zoning Board had granted K&K a variance to build 1.9 million square feet of warehouse space at the site in March 2002. K&K was also granted permission to build 300,000 square feet of office space.

Two residents, Richard Walling, who is also a member of the East Brunswick Zoning Board, and Jean Dvorak of Deans Rhode Hall Road in South Brunswick, appealed that decision and are trying to stop the rezoning through litigation in state Superior Court.

An appeal to the Township Council last July resulted in the council upholding the Zoning Board’s decision.

The East Brunswick Township Council passed a resolution in May to oppose the rezoning.

East Brunswick Planning Board Attorney Larry Sachs told the South Brunswick town council in May that his municipality has been fighting for years to defend the 6-acre zoning adjacent to the site.

On May 21, the South Brunswick Planning Board voted 6-2 not to recommend rezoning the land to the council.

With the Planning Board voting against the change, the council would have had to pass a resolution along with an ordinance explaining why the change better suits the land and why it needs to be zoned differently than designated in the township’s master plan, according to Township Attorney Don Sears.

The new master plan for the township was updated and adopted in 2001. It is updated every six years, according to of­ficials.

Several residents near the intersec­tion applauded as the ordinance died.

Dvorak and Walling will now have their case heard in state Superior Court sometime in September to attempt to overturn the initial zoning approval for the warehouses.