‘This is lot of money’: Branchburg advances $20 million spending plan to block warehouse
BRANCHBURG – With little fanfare, the Township Committee is moving forward with the $20.3 million purchase of a lot along Route 22 to prevent it from becoming the site of a warehouse.
"This is lot of money," Committeeman Thomas Young said at Monday's meeting.
The ordinance for the purchase was introduced at the meeting and a public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12.
Though the township reached an agreement last summer to buy 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, Branchburg could not proceed with the purchase because there wasn't enough money in the township budget for the $970,000 down payment.
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.
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Township Committeeman David Owens previously 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.
Branchburg had already 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.
The township has not yet decided how to utilize the two parcels.
Last 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.
The total property tax impact of the bonds to finance the purchases has not yet been determined.
Officials have speculated property tax bills could rise by more than 10%.
Advance has been given approval by Bridgewater to build two warehouses and a research/office building in the first phase of the Peters Brook Innovation Center on Route 202-206 as part of a litigation settlement with that township.
Bedminster has also recently approved Advance's plans to construct five buildings – one two-story, 30,656-square-foot office building and four, one-story retail and professional buildings totaling 18,280 square feet – on its 15-acre campus in the V formed by routes 202 and 206.
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 advances $20 million spending plan to block warehouse
