HILLSBOROUGH: Copart hours request on hold again

Hearing continued to Jan. 15

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
CoPart of Connecticut auto salvage representatives will return in January to seek permission to extend business hours, especially following major storms.
Copart wants:
— To add Saturday hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for trucks to pick up vehicles that have been purchased.
— To allow haulers under contract to drop off damaged vehicles up to 11 p.m. Monday to Friday,
— To be allowed full operations on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. when a certain number of cars are received during high-volume periods after a declared state of emergency.
To prevent even later dropoffs, Copart has now offered to install a time-locked gate that cannot by opened by haulers after 11 p.m. It would also agree to delivery of no more than 45 trucks, carrying no more than a total of 100 damaged vehicles, per week.
Copart is an Internet auction business that gained approvals to operate in Hillsborough, on the Manville border, in 2011. Insurance companies hire Copart to pick up autos and bring them to the facility, where Copart takes photos, clears titles and puts autos up for online auction within hours of dropoff, said general manager Kenneth Hopkins at the October meeting.
CoPart, which owns land that can hold up to 3,400 junked cars on Camplain Road, has revised its plan and now asks for a Saturday closing time of 3 p.m. That’s two hours earlier than previous requests.
It also said it would replace dead pine trees along Camplain Road, and add stone across the street in the right-of-way to mitigate ruts caused by trucks turning in and out of the facility. It would repair damaged lawns and detailed practices to control dust.
CoPart wants the flexibility to operate on Sundays following times when the governor declares a state of emergency for natural disasters. CoPart officials said that’s when auto dealers get even busier trying to remove cars from streets and highways across New Jersey.
Planning Board members showed frustration in November trying to nail down Copart on the practical effects of its request, and how the township could enforce whatever restrictions are agreed to.
About a half-dozen neighbors of the business have sat through hearings waiting to tell their tales of unceasing dust, deliveries by auto wreckers late at night and noise and damage to their lawns.
Maria Janucik, one of the neighbors, forced the hearing to be postponed to Jan. 8 when she questioned lot and block numbers on the site plan. Copart was asked to submit proof that there has been a legal merger of two lots on about one-half of the property.
In previous meetings, CoPart said it wanted to continue permissible night deliveries of 35 trucks carrying up to 90 damaged vehicles Monday through Fridays. It would certify counts to the township, and give accesses to dropoff logs and videos, said Mr. Hopkins.
Signs would be posted along Camplain Road warning there no parking was allowed, and exiting trucks could only turn toward Route 206. On Saturdays, no motorized equipment except that used in dust control, would be operated within 400 feet of the main lot, the company pledged.