Hillsborough officials await DEP input on Homestead Road warehouse plan
HILLSBOROUGH – It won't be until an undetermined time in 2023 that the township Planning Board will decide whether to allow the construction of more than a half million square feet of warehouse space on Homestead Road between the Route 206 Bypass and Willow Road.
The public hearing on Homestead Road LLC's proposal continued Thursday after the board decided not to delay testimony until the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection concludes its investigation into site disturbances on the property.
A new date for future hearings will be set when the board holds its annual reorganization meeting on Jan. 12 and adopts its 2023 schedule.
It's one of several proposals for a million square feet of warehouses in the township that will be heard by the board next year.Questions had been raised whether the Planning Board should hear more testimony before the DEP decides whether to issue a violation over disturbances made by a farmer to the 88-acre site on Homestead Road next to the Route 206 Bypass.
Board Attorney Eric Bernstein advised the board that testimony should continue to be heard, but that the decision to continue the public hearing should not be construed as "tacit approval" of the project that has generated fierce opposition by neighborhood residents.
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Brian Tarantino, one of the official objectors, said the hearing should be delayed because "we don't have a good picture of what is going on at the site."
"These things should be addressed first," he said.
But the lawyers for Homestead Road LLC argued that in past cases, courts have ruled that municipalities should continue public hearings as other agencies at the state and county levels review the plans. Any potential approval of the project at the local level will be conditioned on those approvals.
Craig Gianetti, co-counsel for Homestead Road LLC, said that if any DEP violations are found, they would be given not to the developer, but the current owner of the property, Mid-State Industrial Park, of Cranbury.
Michael O'Grodnick, the developer's other co-counsel, said site plans have been revised to eliminate the need for any variances from township requirements.
Homestead Road LLC, of Boca Raton, Florida, owned by Boca Raton resident Eric Greif, has proposed two warehouses – one 368,995 square feet and the other 168,304 square feet – and a 6,000-square-foot office building on vacant land. The warehouses would be the size of nine football fields.
Nearly 2,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the warehouse proposal.
A group, Stop Warehouses and Trucks, was formed to oppose the project, but the group's mission has expanded to opposing other warehouse proposals at 279 Homestead Road, 303 Amwell Road, Harvard Way and 1170 Millstone River Road.
The project could yield more than $1.1 million in annual property tax revenue, with $951,261 of that money going directly to the school district.
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.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Hillsborough officials await NJ input on warehouse plan
