By Natalia Knochowski, Staff Writer
CRANBURY — Cranbury Brick Yard LLC filed a lawsuit against the Cranbury Township Planning Board on Monday after the board approved an application submitted by the company, but denied four design waivers.
Cranbury Brick Yard LLC wants to clean up the site, then build a 2.8 million-square-foot warehouse project on the 395-acre site on Brickyard Road where the Unexcelled Chemical Corp. used to be located.
The corporation exploded in 1954. Two workers were killed in the explosion, and explosive debris was scattered across the property.
Some of the debris still remains.
Cranbury Brick Yard LLC is operated by Colorado-based Viridian Partners, a company that specializes in redeveloping contaminated industrial sites. Viridian bought the land in 2006.
The warehouse project the company proposed included the construction of three warehouses and parking lots.
Aug. 19, the board approved the company’s preliminary site plan application and several waivers. However, the board denied four other waivers.
One of those was the company’s request to have a fence 1.3 feet away from the property line, rather than 5 feet away from the property line that’s required by zoning.
The board also denied the company’s request to build berms higher than 8 feet, the maximum height allowed by township zoning.
In addition, the waivers for the company to build within 200 feet of a stream and for the company to import 490,000 cubic yards of soil were denied by the board.
Planning board officials did not immediately return calls from The Cranbury press, seeking comment on the lawsuit. But Josette Kratz, secretary and administrator officer, said Thursday that board members had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
Cranbury Brick Yard LLC spokesman Matthew Stanton said in a written statement the board’s approval, but denial of the four waivers, was “arbitrary and capricious.”
”Given the Planning Board’s denial of our waivers — waivers that are essential to meet the requirements set for us in the NJDEP’s Remedial Action Work Plan — coupled with arbitrary and capricious decisions, we were left with no choice but to seek relief in the courts,” he said in the statement.
In the statement, Mr. Stanton said Cranbury Brick Yard LLC has worked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in order “to secure the necessary approvals to remediate and redevelop a very complicated and dangerous site that had sat idle since 1954.”
”Throughout that time, we have attempted to develop a partnership with Cranbury Township to remediate and redevelop the property consistent with the municipality’s zoning ordinances, generate significant ratables and build what will be a model brownfield redevelopment project,” he said.
He said in the statement the project would take up 561,000 square feet less than what zoning allows for industrial space, would create more than 900 jobs and generate about $2.8 million in annual ratables.

