Cranbury South Brunswick Park is moving forward after members of the Cranbury Planning Board approved a design waiver regarding tree size for the approved warehouse project.
During a meeting on Feb. 13, board Chairman Peter Mavoides and board members Judson Hamlin, Jason Stewart, Wayne Wittman, James Gallagher, Karen Callan, Evelyn Spann and Matt Scott voted “yes” on a motion to grant the design waiver.
The board meeting was held at the Cranbury School.
Vice Chairman Michael Kaiser voted “no” on the motion to grant the design waiver and said, “I did not think there was a strong enough argument by the applicant to give them a waiver. I was just not comfortable in giving the waiver. Some of the members, I think they made their decision after the Shade Tree Commission’s testimony and it was really good testimony. I am glad they were involved.”
The Shade Tree Commission’s testimony supported the applicant’s request for a design waiver.
The board’s review on Feb. 13 was in regard to the applicant’s representatives seeking an amendment to the approval for a design waiver for tree caliper and size deviation to be 2.5 inches where a minimum of 3 inches is required by Cranbury’s regulations.
The applicant’s representatives said 2.5-inch caliper trees are more readily available, particularly for the fall planting season.
Attorney Frank J. Petrino, of the firm Eckert Seamans, represented the applicant and said the applicant plans to plant the trees in the fall of 2020.
The Alfieri Cranbury South Brunswick Park project was approved by the board in November 2019. The applicant will construct two warehouses totaling 2.4 million square feet on 273 acres. A majority of the land is in Cranbury and a portion of the land is in South Brunswick.
The two warehouses will be built between Cranbury-South River Road (Route 535) and Route 130. In addition to warehouse space, each building will also contain office space, according to the application.
The properties where the warehouses will be constructed are in Cranbury’s Research and Light Industry zone. The buildings will be adjacent to commercial and warehouse properties.
Representatives of the applicant have said that when the project is complete, the assessed value of the property will be about $122 million, with annual taxes to Cranbury totaling about $2.4 million.