SOUTH BRUNSWICK — The fate of a vacant warehouse is in the balance after the potential tenant’s recent request for leniency was rejected.
South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese expressed concerns about the township Zoning Board’s recent decision to reject Fortunoff’s request for a variance that would allow the retailer to park trucks across the street from the site of its new main warehouse in the area of Davidson Mill Road and Route 535. The company is looking to move from the location of its main warehouse for the region in northern New Jersey.
“I was as perplexed as anybody,” Gambatese said. “I wasn’t happy with that decision. It just didn’t make sense to me.”
The Planning Board approved Fortunoff’s final site plan, including 122 trailer parking spaces on the warehouse property, but the Zoning Board did not approve the 78 truck parking spaces the company requested across the street.
The town Planning Board approved the applicant’s final site plan on Nov. 12, however the Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 5-2 to reject the company’s request for a use variance the next day. Zoning Board chairman Martin Hammer and board members John B. Wolf and James Allen were absent from the meeting, so alternates voted in their place.
Zoning Board member Harvey Levine voted in favor of the variance. He said this was unlike any other request the board has dealt with, since the parking is across the street from the warehouse Fortunoff would operate out of.
“I fully respect my fellow board members and we wrestled with this thing and it was sort of a unique situation,” Levine said.
The precise location of the entrance and exit to the parking lot would have been determined at a future meeting involving the site plan if the board had approved the variance. Levine said some board members expressed concerns about the impact on traffic, shielding and visibility for motorists, but he was satisfied with what was presented.
“I had no real problems with this, given the fact that it is zoned for warehouses and parking,” Levine said.
“I didn’t feel that it was, under the circumstances, an impermissible request,” Levine said. “I felt they had proven their case, but I was unfortunately in the minority.”
The site across the street from the warehouse is where developer and property owner South Brunswick Manor Inc. proposed a roughly 400,000 square-foot warehouse, Gambatese said. He noted that the developer would lease the existing warehouse to Fortunoff and, depending on parking, adjust the size of its proposed warehouse to ensure a balance between impervious cover and green space.
“Impervious coverage would not increase by giving the variance,” Gambatese said.
The solution of allowing 78 trailer parking spaces on the other side of the road is not necessarily a firm plan, Gambatese said. He said the company wants to see what its operation would be first, and it was seeking lenience from the legal requirement.
“That’s why people go for a variance,” Gambatese said. “That’s what a variance is asking for: relief.”
Gambatese said he does not want the company to go to a neighboring warehouse in Cranbury that is reportedly a second option for Fortunoff. He noted that the warehouse in South Brunswick is empty and it is important that everything is done to ensure that the company moves there.
“I don’t want them to go to Cranbury, to be very frank,” Gambatese said. “I don’t want to see Cranbury get the ratable or get a good company like Fortunoff. We certainly could use the help here.”
Gambatese said he would discuss alternatives with the company as soon as possible.
“We will continue to try,” Gambatese said. “We want to keep Fortunoff in town. We think this is a good company that, especially in these economic times, you don’t want to lose.”
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