There's one final chance to have your say about the Nabisco factory site
The final hearing for a warehouse proposed to replace the Nabisco factory in Fair Lawn will be held on Monday, and the public will have a last chance to give feedback.
The meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m., will be held at 8-01 Fair Lawn Ave. and will allow public members to comment on the project being proposed by developer Greek Development before final board deliberations. The warehouse project, if approved, would cover 644,000 square feet — about the size of Prudential Center in Newark — with another 10,000 square feet of office space. It would include 256 parking spaces and would not require the borough to approve any variances.
Concerns about traffic study
A May hearing for the proposal focused on a traffic study prepared by Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, a firm hired by Greek Development. The study estimated that there would be 135 trips into and out of the warehouse during weekday morning peak hours, with 148 trips in and out during weekday evenings. That would be a drastic reduction from when the factory was in operation, according to the report.
Since then, the borough had its own traffic study of the site completed and officially released to the public on Aug. 30. The July 2023 study by McDonough & Rea Associates found that the traffic data it collected shows "higher existing traffic volume" than the data collected by Langan in February 2022.
The newer study also says the analysis shows "acceptable traffic operations can be maintained at intersections where site generated turning movements and U-turns will be generated."
"In addition, a review of the Langan analysis shows that the warehouse redevelopment proposal has a lower traffic impact than re-occupancy of the Nabisco industrial bakery," the report states.
The newer study shows that the level of service, which involves factors such as speed and density, at intersections during peak weekend morning hours included six A ratings, seven B ratings, three C ratings and two D ratings, which included both existing and new intersections if the project is built.
When compared with a “no build” scenario for existing intersections, the level of service remained the same rating for existing intersections except for turning left on Fair Lawn Avenue and the Route 208 northbound ramp, which went from a C to a D, and moving through the same intersection, which went from an A to a B.
Residents vent frustration: Fair Lawn meeting on Nabisco building leaves redevelopment questions unanswered
When did the factory close?
Mondelēz International Inc., Nabisco's Chicago-based parent, shut down the landmark North Jersey factory in 2021, ending six decades of churning out Oreos, animal crackers and other treats at the factory. The snack maker then sold the 40-acre site for $146.5 million to Greek Development, which filed its warehouse proposal in February.
Community members, especially Glen Rock residents who live on the Fair Lawn border near the old bakery, had become increasingly vocal about their concerns over the past few months, in particular the potential for contamination that could be released when knocking down the building. A planned implosion of the building was postponed and later canceled in May, with Greek Development promising an "alternative method" to bring down the building. No new details of the plan have been released publicly at this time.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Nabisco factory Fair Lawn NJ: Final hearing on warehouse is Monday
