Branchburg spending $20 million to stop warehouse from being built. Who's paying for it?

BRANCHBURG – The township will spend $20 million to purchase property where a warehouse had been proposed.

But township officials haven’t figured out yet how to pay for it or how the property will be used.

The Township Committee voted Monday to introduce an ordinance to purchase the 31.79-acre property owned by Advance at Branchburg II, part of Bedminster-based Advance Realty Investors, at Route 22 and Station Road in the North Branch section.

A public hearing and final adoption of the ordinance is scheduled for Sept. 11.

The actual purchase will not be finalized until the first quarter of 2024, when the 5% or $1 million down payment will be made. By the end of the year, Township Committeeman Tom Young said, the financing should be determined.

Besides stopping the warehouse development, the purchase of the land would also settle two lawsuits Advance had brought against Branchburg, challenging township zoning regulations that restricted warehouse development.

The purchase of the property comes after the Township Committee placed a nonbinding referendum on the November 2022 election ballot asking voters whether the township should spend $25 million to buy land in the Route 22/28 corridor to prevent warehouse development.

That referendum passed by a 2,669-to-1,912 margin.

Mayor David Owens said he believed those who supported the referendum "understood" that there would be a "moderate tax increase," but no figures were given.

"I'm assuming they understood what it entailed to stop overdevelopment," he said.

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Young said Township Committee members are "debating" the financing, from issuing a bond, using the township open space funds or utilizing a "hybrid" of bond money and open space funds.

If a mixture of funds were used, Young said, part of the property on the west side of Station Road would be kept as open space or recreation while the other part could redeveloped.

"We really don't have an idea of what we want to put there," Young said.

Using open space funds, Young said, would "lock" the township into using the property for open space or recreation.

Charles Tuma, a member of the township's Parks and Recreation Committee, said that using the land for recreation would "take pressure off White Oak Park" in the central part of the township.

Young said it would have cost $75 million to defend the township from lawsuits challenging the warehouse restrictions.

"It was too much to fight the lawsuits," he said.

Owens added that the township was likely to lose those lawsuits.

Settlements of other lawsuits resulted in agreements to allow warehouses to be built on Route 22 and Evans Way.

Young said he was "surprised" that the nonbinding referendum passed.

"We felt compelled to act," he said.

Owens said the Township Committee held the referendum to get the opinion of Branchburg residents, instead of just the "Facebook warriors."

Branchburg already has agreed to buy another 10-acre property in the North Branch section for $8 million that had been targeted for warehouse development. The Township Committee approved issuing a bond to pay for that purchase.

Township officials have not said what they want to do with that property, though they have indicated that its location across from Raritan Valley Community College could lead to a "synergistic" concept, especially if the college decides to pursue building dorms for what is now a commuter school.

Also this year, the township decided to buy 9.1 acres of land for $6 million where a residential subdivision was approved off South Branch Road and Crestwood Avenue.

The township will fund the $6 million purchase through a $1 million grant from Somerset County, $75,000 from the township's Open Space Trust Fund and the remainder through the issuance of bonds.

Advance recently received approval in Bridgewater to build warehouses on Route 202-206 as part of a litigation settlement with the township over stalled plans to build a supermarket and apartment building on the former Sanofi campus.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Branchburg NJ spending $20 million to prevent warehouse development