S.B. planners deny warehouse complex
Flood concerns lead to 4-4 vote; developer unsure of next move
BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

A proposal to build a 1.8 million-square-foot warehouse complex was narrowly defeated at the South Brunswick Planning Board’s Feb. 15 meeting.

Following the 4-4 vote, those voting no cited concerns over the project’s potential contribution to flooding in the area as a large factor in their decisions.

According to Andrew J. Mele, the senior vice president of TC South Brunswick, the firm that applied to build the warehouses, plans for the future are now up in the air, though they would like to continue doing business in the township.

“Needless to say, we were very disappointed with the outcome of the vote on [Feb. 15], but we haven’t necessarily given up the ship in terms of doing development there,” said Mele. “We’re still trying to determine what our next move is. I’ll reiterate that we certainly would love to do development in South Brunswick, but the climate at this time doesn’t feel too good, so we’re kind of just going to wait and see.”

The meeting opened up with an hourlong presentation by Jean Dvorak, a resident of South Brunswick and member of the Eastern Villages Association (EVA), a community group that was opposed to the warehouse application. The presentation included aerial photographs, e-mails from engineers working for the Department of Environmental Protection, sewage and drainage system blueprints, and ground-level photographs.

The purpose was to prove to the board that the there is a flooding problem in Pigeon Swamp State Park caused by too many warehouses in the area. It is the contention of Dvorak and other members of the EVA that this newest complex, proposed for a property on Davidsons Mill and Cranbury-South River roads, would exacerbate the situation.

It is the belief of Mayor Frank Gambatese and others that Pigeon Swamp had a flooding problem for years before the warehouses even existed because the area is at a lower elevation than the surrounding properties.

During the presentation, Dvorak showed an aerial photograph of the property in 1978, when much of the area was open farmland, and, according to Dvorak, there was no evidence of flooding. Dvorak then showed an aerial photo of the same area in 1991, which showed some flooding in the farm field across from the New Jersey Turnpike.

She followed with a photograph taken in 2002, which she said showed even more evidence of flooding in the farm field. Dvorak pointed out a streambed that had formed, and several small blue dots on the map, which, according to Dvorak, were water.

Using a laser pointer, she also called attention to a roadway in the park with power lines running over it that was completely dry in the 2002 photo. In the next photo, taken in 2005, she showed an increased amount of water in the flooded area and showed the flooding making incursions into a woodlands area that,

Dvorak said, has historically been completely dry.

Dvorak posed the question, what has changed between 1978 and 2005? To her, the answer was the widening of the turnpike, which happened in 1991, and the rise of the warehouses.

According to Dvorak, a combination of dwindling permeable coverage and drainage system abuse has led to the increase of flooding in the area. However, she also noted that if the turnpike alone was the problem, then the area flooded in 2002 and 2005 would have flooded in 1991, which it did not.

She said that the Circuit City warehouse drainage system leads directly to the flooded area, which goes underneath the turnpike and into a drainage pond. This would not be so much of a problem, but, according to Dvorak, five warehouses have all been connected to this one drainage system, which has caused it to be overloaded.

“All the warehouses north of Davidsons Mill Road are using this detention basin, which is meant for just Circuit City,” said Dvorak.

According to Dvorak, the new complex would have used the same drainage system.

In an attempt to control truck traffic, the developer asked for a variance regarding permeable coverage. The reason this was requested was to build a small, circular roadway within the complex itself, allowing trucks easy access to the various buildings without needing to use the public roads. The old proposal, which had the proper amount of permeable coverage, would have had eight different driveways.

According to some board members, if the company decided to shave off 50,000 square feet from each building, they would have been in compliance with the ordinance, but those changes were not made. In light of the presentation from Dvorak, some felt worried about whether the lack of permeable coverage would contribute to flooding.

The plan for the complex had flood control mechanisms in place that were outlined extensively by the engineer for the company, Julia Algeo, over the previous two hearings. In addition to detention basins and culverts, the company also promised to find a way to pump water on Davidsons Mill Road, which is next to Pigeon Swamp and would need to be expanded if the complex was built, back on to their property. Furthermore, the development would have made use of a relatively new technology called permeable pavement, a type of blacktop that is able to drain water like uncovered ground.

Disagreement over

performance bonds

Whether or not this system would work would have been linked to a performance bond, as suggested by board member Edmund Luciano at the previous meeting. This would have given the company a financial incentive to keep its promises regarding the efficiency of its stormwater control system.

Board member Joe Spataro took the idea one step further at last week’s meeting by stating that the bond should be on a rolling basis. That is, if something goes wrong and the company loses the bond, the whole process would begin again. This would mean that the company would need five consecutive problem-free years. The attorney for the firm, Rich Goldman, said that he had no problem with this proposal.

Some residents, however, disagreed with the entire premise of the bond itself, stating that if the flooding does turn out to be a real problem, some extra money in the township coffers won’t make that much of a difference.

“The performance guarantee that this application is proposing, will guarantee that you will stick to the specs, but it will not absolutely guarantee that this will work,” said board member Debra Johnson.

Johnson said that years ago, grass-bottom basins were considered the wave of the future, but many years later, this type of basin seemed to have many unanticipated problems. Warehouse applications coming in now still claim to be state-of-the-art with a perfect system, but Johnson said she is wary of the same thing happening again.

Goldman, the attorney for the company, said the expectations being placed upon the applicant were unrealistic.

“I can’t take care of Circuit City, I can’t take care of CNJ and all the others,” said Goldman.

According to Goldman, the application followed all of the proper laws, exceeded the proper standards and conformed to the proper local ordinances. Even the waiver they were requesting was done, according to Goldman, to benefit the town by reducing truck traffic.

“I respectfully disagree that there are open questions on our site. You can study it to death and present them, and you can say, ‘I don’t believe the engineers,’ and we can go in a big circle all over again,” said Goldman.

According to Goldman, the company is aware of the concerns from residents and has done what it can to accommodate them, but the applicant can only do so much.

This sentiment was echoed by Gambatese, who is also on the board.

“I’m looking at an application that I think is one of the better applications, and that includes the CNJ application. It far exceeds CNJ. There’s no comparison at all,” the mayor said.

According to Gambatese, the township would have greatly benefited from the warehouse complex, with the addition of a new traffic signal which would have facilitated easy passage through Davidsons Mill Road, as well as more than a million dollars for affordable housing being sent into the fund. He said that the company’s willingness to post a performance bond spoke highly of its confidence in the plan’s benefit to the community.

“I think [the performance bond is] going to be part of the Planning Board’s requirements in the future because I think it is a good thing. I think if you’re going to say you’re going to do something, you need to put your money where your mouth is, and this is the first applicant I’ve ever heard of that has come to this township and done that,” said Gambatese.

‘H2O’ questions sway votes

When the time for a decision finally came, the vote came out as a 4-4 tie, and the measure was defeated. Those voting against mostly based their decision on the issue of flooding.

“I don’t believe that every ‘i’ has been dotted and every ‘t’ has been crossed regarding the H2O,” said Spataro.

Those who voted for the application expressed that the performance bond gave them faith that the plan would work.

“I like the idea of the performance bond and I’m glad Mr. Spataro did add something more at the end. ... I think that says a lot for how much you believe this project is going to work,” said Jo Hochman.

Residents present at the meeting were pleased with the results, viewing them as the conclusion to a long conflict.

“It’s a wonderful thing for the township to not take everything the developer says as absolute truth. It is an area with problems, and they’ll come back and probably get approved, but at least it was looked at and doubts were raised,” said Bill Klimowicz, a resident of South Brunswick and member of the EVA.