Rezoning is eyed for land west of Route 130.
By: Paul Koepp
The Township Council began the process Tuesday of rezoning land near the intersection of Friendship Road and Route 130, over the objections of the company that wants to build a multiple-warehouse complex there.
Joe Taylor, the CEO of the Matrix Development Group, of Monroe, said at the meeting that the council was moving too fast by introducing an ordinance to rezone four parcels from Industrial (I-3) to Rural Residential (RR). Matrix is considering two of those parcels for development.
The ordinance could be adopted after a public hearing at the council’s Oct. 9 meeting.
The four lots under consideration do not include the 68-acre parcel at the northwest corner of the intersection, where Matrix proposed a 744,000-square-foot warehouse that the Planning Board rejected Aug. 15. The township Planning Department is considering other rezoning alternatives for that lot, including possible retail uses.
Two of the lots are owned by Matrix a 107-acre parcel at the southwest corner of the intersection and a 64-acre parcel to the west on the north side of Friendship Road, where the company has plans to build three warehouses. The other two lots are residential parcels, also on the north side of Friendship Road, of 1.7 acres and 10,834 square feet.
Mr. Taylor said Matrix has provided the township with employment and tax ratables for nearly 30 years, and the rezoning would not be fair.
"From our perspective, this process is a runaway train. This property does not deserve to be rezoned, and certainly not in a fashion where it is railroaded through the town," he said. "I implore you as an investor in the township for almost three decades to take it slowly and deliberately."
Mr. Taylor said the council should not simply react to "the special interests of just a few."
Residents of the nearby Four Seasons retirement community and residents of Friendship Road actively opposed the warehouse proposal and asked the council to consider rezoning the land.
The Planning Board rejected the first proposed warehouse, citing traffic and quality-of-life concerns, while the three warehouses on the lot to the west have not yet come before the board. The Planning Board must submit its comments on the proposed rezoning to the council by Sept. 21.
Mayor Frank Gambatese, who has previously said there should be no warehouses west of Route 130, said Tuesday the lots in question should be residential to fit in with the surrounding area.
However, he also said that "Matrix has been a good corporation in South Brunswick" and he thanked the company for investing in the township.
Mayor Gambatese also said that the N.J. Turnpike Authority has informed him that it owns easements on the lots that would prevent them from being developed at the present time. Turnpike officials did not respond to a request for comment by the South Brunswick Post’s Wednesday afternoon deadline.