By: Jane Karlicek
MONTGOMERY – The Township Site Plan Committee reviewed plans last week for a new office building at Research Park on Route 206 and an expansion to a warehouse at 3M’s Belle Mead Quarry.
S & S Investments of Princeton wants to construct a two-story, 16,000-square-foot office building. It is seeking a use variance from the Township Zoning Board of Adjustment because the building is considered a second principle structure on the site, where only one is allowed, said Don Johnson, the township’s planning and zoning engineer.
Committee members on Aug. 7 asked S & S to decrease the height of the proposed building, from 36 to 30 feet, and company officials agreed.
S & S also is seeking a variance to construct less parking spaces than the township requires. S & S has proposed 71 spaces; 156 are required, Mr. Johnson said. Company officials will provide testimony at the Zoning Board meeting that will show why it only needs 71 spaces, Mr. Johnson said.
Officials from S & S are slated to appear before the Zoning Board on Sept. 19.
At Wednesday’s township Open Space Committee meeting, committee members discussed making a recommendation to the township’s Zoning Board asking S & S to construct a pathway along the preserved Schafer Tract, a 100-acre parcel of open space in the township and Rocky Hill, from behind Research Park to the Grand Union supermarket.
It was unclear whether constructing the path would qualify as an off-tract improvement, which developers are often required to make as a condition of their application’s approval. Such a plan would need approval from the Township Committee, the Zoning Board, Rocky Hill and Somerset County.
Meanwhile, 3M Production Manager Lee Otterlei told the Site Plan Committee that the company wants to expand its approximately 39,000-square-foot warehouse by about 5,400 square feet. The company plans to modernize its equipment and that action will increase the size of the equipment, she said.
The company recently received approval from the Hillsborough Planning Board to expand its facility. The 3M site is located in both Montgomery and Hillsborough.
Montgomery Site Plan Committee members asked 3M officials to provide the Township Planning Board with a plot plan to illustrate the location of the expansion in reference to the entire 3M site on county Route 601.
3M is scheduled to appear before the Planning Board on Sept. 13.
