Hillsborough Planning Board agenda packed with warehouse proposals
HILLSBOROUGH – The battle over a proposed warehouse on Weston Road opposite a senior community will continue more than three months from now on Feb. 1.
That date may change because the township Planning Board has not yet adopted a calendar of meetings for the new year as its agenda is clogged with slow-moving public hearings on warehouse proposals that have generated fierce opposition from residents.
Following the ninth public hearing Thursday on the proposal by Weston Road LLC to build the 130,418-square-foot building opposite the Hearthstone at Hillsborough senior community, the Board voted to extend the deadline for deciding on the plan, filed in February 2022, until the end of February 2024.
But that deadline is likely to be extended again based on the estimated eight witnesses that are scheduled to testify for both Weston Road LLC and objectors to the plan, summations by the attorneys and comments from the public.
At a two-hour meeting on Thursday, the Board finished hearing testimony from two of Weston Road LLC's witnesses, an acoustic engineer and air quality engineer.
Jack Zybura, the acoustic engineer, said Weston Road LLC has agreed to cut down on nighttime noise by not allowing trucks to enter or exit the facility between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
He also told the Board that the developer has agreed to construct an 8-foot sound barrier to block noise from a loading dock.
"We're showing how we're going to meet the code," Zybura said, explaining that the facility will meet requirements of the state Department of Environmental Protection which are similar to the township's regulations.
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Glen Bodnar, the air quality engineer, testified that a projected total of 17 trucks a day will have a "negligible impact" on the air quality.
Miracle Brand, the prospective tenant of the warehouse, sells imported bedsheets and towels online. The company, based in Florida, markets itself as selling the "first hygienic luxury sheets" with "natural bacteria fighting silver." The cotton is grown in India with the sheets made in Bahrain and the towels made in Turkey.
The proposal in the northeast corner of the township near the Manville border has been vehemently opposed by members of the senior community. The 18.2-acre property is zoned for light industrial use next to the CSX railroad and is on the other side of the tracks from Central Jersey Regional Airport.
Weston Road LLC wants to build the warehouse on land that was previously the township's landfill and was auctioned in 1969.
The township approved a plan in 1990 to build 13 warehouses on the site, but the proposal never came to fruition.
In 1998, soil testing on the site discovered contamination from the landfill which led to a lawsuit against the township, claiming that Hillsborough had committed fraud by not disclosing information about the landfill in its auction materials.
The property was zoned for industrial use before Ryan Homes developed the Hearthstone community.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Hillsborough NJ Planning Board agenda packed with warehouse proposals
