By tara petersen
Staff Writer
MONROE — A controversial plan that was before the Planning Board has spilled over to the Township Council.
The Planning Board recently denied an application by Macquarie Prologis Management Ltd. on behalf of its tenant, APL Logistics, South Middlesex Avenue, to create more than 300 new tractor-trailer parking spaces and 28 regular parking spaces.
According to the application, the company would use an existing warehouse building in Monroe for the purpose of conducting a Postal Equipment Distribution Center from the location.
The 411,600-square-foot warehouse sits on 37 acres adjacent to a residential area.
Forty-three loading docks are now located at the warehouse, according to the application.
A special board meeting was held July 2 at Monroe Township High School and was attended by more than one hundred residents.
Those residents had also shown up at the municipal building to protest the application when it was originally scheduled to be heard on June 26. The hearing was postponed to July 2 so it could be held in a larger venue.
Residents said that they fear the noise level and traffic would increase significantly if more trucks operated from the site.
A resident of Kelly Court, one of the streets adjacent to the site, spoke to council members July 7 about enacting an ordinance for "defining a truck terminal to make sure no one comes to Monroe Township and tries this again."
She also spoke of the noise level that she and other residents of the area already endure from that and another existing trucking site on South Middlesex Avenue, saying that it is difficult to sleep at night because "they smash the trucks into the back of the loading docks."
"It’s frightening," she said.
"I would beg to differ that they meet any decibel requirements. I can hear it all night long," the resident added.
Township Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton advised the resident to make note of specific times and the types of noises being heard so that noise levels can be tested during those hours to see if the company is in violation.
According to a preliminary noise evaluation study for the Prologis site, the "maximum permissible sound levels" are: 65 decibels (dBa) between 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., 50 dBa from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and 80 dBa day or night for "maximum impulse levels," or sudden bursts of noise.
The study found no impulse readings, but declared the company to be "occasionally above the … property line noise standards."
Readings ranged from 50 to 76 dBa during the day with an average of 66 dBa, and from 45 to 78 dBa at night with an average of 63 dBa.
Readings were taken between 10 and 11 a.m., and again between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m.
The study further determined that the proposed berm of trees would act as a sufficient barrier to reduce the noise level so it is within compliance, should the application be approved.
Township Engineer Ernie Feist said that he would look into night-time usage regulations for noise levels, and the definition of a truck terminal.
Feist stated that the ordinance in place for such sites only stipulates a minimum number of parking spaces.
"Our ordinance is silent with regard to the amount of maximum parking spaces," Feist said.
Several council members expressed concerns over the recent application from Prologis, with one official describing the recent events "a lesson to the town," and proposing that stricter guidelines be made to avoid future problems.