3,400-used car business lies on Manville border
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Hillsborough Planning Board members sent CoPart auto salvage representatives away again last Thursday night, and urged the auto resale business for a second month to think harder about its request to extend hours, especially following major storms.
CoPart, which owns land that can hold up to 3,400 junked cars on Camplain Road, wants to revise business hours to be able to accept deliveries from 5 to 11 p.m. as well as be open on Saturdays for deliveries and pickups.
CoPart also wanted 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 central and northern New Jersey.
CoPart is an Internet auction business that got approvals to operate in Hillsborough, right on the Manville border, in 2011. Insurance companies hire CoPart to pick up autos, bring it to their facility, take photos and clear titles and put it up for online auction within hours of dropoff, said general manager Kenneth Hopkins at the October meeting.
Planning Board members were clearly frustrated last week trying to nail down CoPart on the practical effects of its request, and how the township could enforce whatever restrictions are agreed to.
At least a half-dozen neighbors of the business have sat through two hearings waiting to tell their tales of unceasing dust, deliveries by auto wreckers late at night and noise and damage to their lawns.
The hearing was continued to Dec. 11.
CoPart wants 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.
.Planning Board members had all sorts of questions over the course of the evening, like what happens when the 36th truck — or more — rolls up after hours in a week? When does a "state of emergency" end? How would the township monitor the business counts of vehicles taken in?
Mr. Hopkins agreed that the end of a declaration of a state of emergency wouldn’t mean the end of the business pressure. In fact, it might take weeks to clear backlogs in places like low-lying city streets affected by a storm like Sandy, he said.
"We’re the folks clearing the city," Mr. Hopkins said.
Board attorney Eric Bernstein called CoPart’s request a "moving target."
"The aftermath of an emergency is what we’re really talking about," he said. Despite attorney Charles Liebling’s assertion that the company didn’t want to be open on Sundays any more than necessary, board member Michael Merdinger, a former mayor and township administrator, said, "This is so broad and open, it’s unacceptable."
Mr. Liebling said there are no restrictions in the ordinance barring a 24-hour operation. The company did agree to conditions about hours on site plan approvals in 2011 and 2013, he said.
Mr. Bernstein said the proposed number of deliveries had no basis, and a recounting over a number of months or years needed to be established and given to the board so it could judge "reasonableness," he said.
He, too, had questions. Would there be a fine for every violation? Who holds the video of vehicles moving in and out? What would be monitored?
One of the most damning bits of testimony came from Michael Sopko Jr., a Camplain Road resident, who said there were already drop-offs after 11 p.m and on Saturdays and Sundays. When asked about discipline drivers, Mr. Hopkins said the company can control paychecks until they comply.
He said some drivers "like to push the issue."
Mr. Bernstein said id the company may be in violation of agreed restrictions now, pointing out that Hillsborough ordinances prohibit parking on Camplain Road now. Why should the bard consider any new requirements? he asked rhetorically.