Complex has been proposed for Friendship Road near Route 130.
By: Paul Koepp
A proposed industrial development could affect wetlands and open space in the area near the intersection of Route 130 and Friendship Road, according to plans submitted to the township planning office.
Two recently submitted plans by the Matrix Development Group, of Cranbury, call for a total of four warehouses totaling nearly 1.3 million square feet to be built, with three on 78 acres on the north side of Friendship Road and one on 54 acres on the south side of the road, according to the plans.
The development, which would be called Matrix Business Park at 8A, could come before the Planning Board in September.
One plan, submitted June 1, calls for three warehouses to be built north of the road on currently empty fields. They will be bounded to the north by Drinking Brook. Wetlands and woodlands in the north and east sections of the site would be affected, according to the plan, which provides a tree location and replacement plan.
The Benjamin M. Bayles House, listed as an historic site by the Historic Preservation Office of the state Department of Environmental Protection, abuts the western border of the site but would not be directly impacted.
The largest of the three warehouses, at nearly 316,000 square feet, would be located near the intersection of Route 130 and Friendship Road. The other two warehouses, extending to the west along Friendship Road, would be 84,000 square feet and 141,000 square feet. The plan for the site north of the road also includes 245 parking spaces, 69 truck stalls, and 3 retention ponds.
In addition, the plan calls for widening Friendship Road to permit a turning lane and three entrances.
The other plan, submitted in March, proposed a 744,000-square-foot warehouse south of the road.
The entire business park would be in the I-3, General Industrial zone.
At least one Friendship Road resident is worried about how the proposed warehouses will change the area.
"These would be the first ones down Friendship Road," said Cathy Dowgin, who previously fought to oppose plans for Route 92. "This would start the process of turning Friendship Road into an industrial area."
She said the open space across from her house, where three of the warehouses would be located, is a "nice area."
"It’s a shame it’s going to be bulldozed," she said.
Matrix Development Group owns several other properties in the area, including two warehouse sites on Stults Road, one on Melrich Road, and the CenterPoint business park near N.J. Turnpike Exit 8A.

