EAST BRUNSWICK – They may have thought the truck noise was just a flashback to days gone by.
But residents of the McGuire Street area, off Route 18, soon learned that another company has moved into the space vacated by Nieroda Transport, whose trucks had disturbed their peace and quiet for over a year. The company left after being cited for zoning violations from the township.
Last week, residents of McGuire Street and North Woodland Avenue told the Township Council that a new company has brought the same noise problems as several prior businesses on the same site.
North Woodland Avenue resident Albert Gonzalez told the council that the new business, Concord, allows trucks to idle early in the morning, though its operation is not supposed to begin until 8 a.m. The police have been called to the site several times, residents said.
“These guys should be fined,” Gonzalez said of the business.
Township Business Administrator James White said he would ask police to patrol the area from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.
“We have no problems finding people who are violating the law,” White said
Gonzalez said he was curious about the string of events leading to the company’s arrival. He said a gymnastics academy that operates on the same site had an application with the township to expand, but the application was withdrawn this summer, and Concord then moved in. Gonzalez wondered how the property owner was able to secure a new tenant so quickly, and before a newly adopted amendment to the township’s zoning ordinance could be adopted.
The amendment to the professional-industrial (PI) zone was adopted last week, banning tractor-trailers from using the residential street to access the property in question.
“The timing of all this,” Gonzalez told the Sentinel, “I smell a rat.”
During the Aug. 28 meeting, White said that at the end of July, a new company submitted a letter of intent to use the site, and Concord began doing business in mid-August.
Township Attorney Michael Baker said that, by law, the newly tightened ordinance can apply only to future users, not a business already there.
Though residents said they welcomed the ordinance, they also felt there were other existing laws to stop the use of trucks on the street near their homes.
McGuire Street resident Frank Coury said he researched township ordinances, and found one from 1970 that bans trucks weighing more than 4 tons from operating in the area, unless they are used for pickups and deliveries, but Baker said he was not sure the law was still in effect.
“How come they’re [the businesses] getting a privilege?” Coury asked.
He said if the township had enforced the law, he wouldn’t have had to fight the trucking companies. At one time, he took a previous company to court.
White said the companies must abide by the P/I zone ordinance, which allows operating hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week, and only one delivery per day is allowed. It also means only small trucks can be used, and even they must quickly load up and leave, as opposed to idling. Trucks cannot be parked overnight.
Officials said Concord is a warehouse and distributor, but Coury was not convinced. Previous trucking or shipping companies had claimed to be warehouses, he noted.
Coury said he found that the township’s own definition of trucking would apply to Concord because the site is used as a “relay station” for the transfer of a load or shipment. He said a true warehouse would be different, and asked Baker for a definition of a warehouse.
“I don’t see a difference between Nieroda and Concord,” Coury said.
Mayor William Neary said the township “has no desire” for the noise problems, and that he would make sure the police department is sensitive to the issue.
Councilwoman Catherine Diem said she was upset that the property owner would allow another tenant of this type after the well-publicized problems with the previous company.
The problem, Gonzalez said, “has only just begun again.”