The developer of a proposed warehouse on Princess Road in Lawrence Township, next to the Kramer Beverage Co. warehouse, will have to wait until later this month to find out whether the Planning Board will approve the application.
Board members listened to nearly three hours of testimony from professionals representing applicant PSIP Metrix Princess Road LLC and from opponents of the application, which calls for building a 340,400-square-foot warehouse on a 31-acre lot, at the board’s Oct. 29 meeting.
But the board ran out of time to complete the application and has scheduled an additional public hearing for its Nov. 19 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. There will be an opportunity for the public to comment on it.
The proposed warehouse includes 103 loading bays and 64 trailer parking spaces, divided between the front and rear of the building. There will be 216 parking spaces and 104 “banked” parking spaces that can be built, if needed.
Residents who live in The Gatherings age-restricted development and the Eagles Chase townhouse development, down the street from the proposed warehouse, have turned out in opposition to the plan. Last week they were joined by representatives of Special Olympics New Jersey, whose headquarters is off Princess Road.
The testimony on Oct. 29 focused on the potential noise that would generated by the proposed warehouse, as well as the potential impact the warehouse and the tractor-trailer trucks would have on Special Olympics New Jersey. The nonprofit group provides sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Acoustical engineer Joseph Horesco said his firm used sound level data from a facility with similar truck activities. The firm also took its own noise measurements on Princess Road near The Gatherings development, which is 1,800 feet away from the proposed warehouse.
According to the report prepared by sound consultant Acentech, the sound of the truck engines, if they were in operation, would be 39 decibels at the nearest residential property line, the study said. This is less than the maximum of 65 decibels permitted during the day and 50 decibels permitted at night by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Asked how many truck engines would be running at the same time, Horesco said one or two trucks would have their engines running. It would add about 3 decibels to the ambient noise level, or background noise. Acentech measured the ambient noise, which was 46 decibels during the day and 44 decibels at night.
Horesco said the building would block some of the sound, as would vegetation between the warehouse and the nearest home. There are other buildings that stand between the warehouse and The Gatherings development.
Michael Nachamkin, a principal in Metrix Real Estate Services LLC, said that after trucks back into a loading bay, the engines are turned off. The engines are not running when the trailers are being loaded or unloaded, he said.
Once the applicant completed presenting its testimony, representatives of Special Olympics New Jersey outlined their objections to the warehouse. The group’s headquarters is at 1 Eunice Kennedy Shriver Way, off Princess Road near its intersection with Princeton Pike.
Heather B. Andersen, the president and chief executive officer of Special Olympics New Jersey, said its clients range in age from 2 years old to more than 60 years old. Clients come from around the state to use the athletic facilities at the Lawrence Township headquarters, she said.
The athletic facility is open after business hours on weekdays and on Saturdays, Andersen said. She said she is concerned about the truck traffic that would be generated by the warehouse because Special Olympics New Jersey’s clients are “vulnerable.”
Some clients can drive themselves to the Special Olympics New Jersey facility, but others rely on their parents, many of whom are older, to drive them to it, Andersen said. The feedback from the athletes and their families about the proposed warehouse can be summed up as “Oh no, oh no,” she added.
When Andersen asked about the hours of operation and whether the warehouse would operate five days a week or seven days a week, Nachamkin said a tenant has not yet been signed. It is possible, he said, the warehouse could be in use around the clock, seven days per week.