By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE – An application seeking municipal approval to construct a storage facility on Route 537 in Millstone Township is being met with concerns from nearby residents.
Representatives of Central Jersey Storage want to construct six buildings to be used for storage on Route 537, west of Interstate 195. The property borders homes on Pine Drive.
An application requesting a use variance, a bulk variance and preliminary and final site plan approval for the business has been submitted to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Attorney Kenneth Pape presented the application to the board on March 22.
No decision was made on the application and the hearing is scheduled to be continued on May 24.
According to engineer Michael Gallagher and architect Stephen Radosti, three buildings will each be one story in height and non-climate controlled, two buildings will each be two stories in height and will be climate controlled and one building will be one story in height and will be climate controlled.
Gallagher testified that the facility will be 83,644 square feet and will be accessible from a single driveway. The facility will be lit by LED lights, two of which are mounted on poles. The remaining proposed lights are mounted on buildings and will face downward.
“The intent of (the building-mounted lights) is that only the pavement area immediately adjoins the light,” Gallagher said. “As a result, very little light leaves the pavement. You cannot see the lighting element unless you are standing directly underneath it and looking up at it.”
According to Kamal Sinha of Central Jersey Storage, clients will be able to enter the facility from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and the office will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Access to the site will require an individual to enter a personal identification number at a security gate.
The lights will remain on during the hours of operation, according to Sinha.
The application was met with concern from residents who live on Pine Drive.
Attorney Edward Christopher, representing resident Peter Blake, questioned the technical aspects of the plan.
Blake spoke about the impact the facility’s lighting could have on nearby homes.
“There is a tremendous amount of light signature that comes with something like this,” he said. “If you are walking 200 feet in the woods with a flashlight, the light does not go around it very far, but you can certainly see it from a long way. This is an awful lot of light that is going to be impacting us.”
“We live in a community that is nice and dark,” resident Jolene Briceno said. “We don’t even have street lights. Now we will have a lot of light coming into our woods from this business.”
“I echo everything (my neighbors) have said about the lights,” resident Tara Tumillo said. “I certainly would not have purchased a home if I knew I was going to live next to a public storage facility. I grew up in a town where there was one and it brings down the value of the area.”
Residents also expressed concern about the safety of the storage facility.
“We hear a lot of bad stories,” Briceno said. “Things like people living in warehouses, people manufacturing drugs in warehouses, people storing things that should not be stored in warehouses. With your family living right behind the site, that is concerning to us as well.”
“In January in New Jersey there were a couple of different storage facilities that had break-ins,” Tumillo said. “I could just walk through and break in. I could just break off the padlocks. And the way they entered was through the back woods.”
“There is really nothing to stop anybody from throwing an all-night party there,” resident Robert Van Erem said. “The staff goes home at 6 p.m., you can come in at 10 p.m. and the place is all yours for the weekend. And what’s to stop somebody from selling drugs there?”
“We are a township that does not have a police department, so take that into consideration,” resident Glenn Briceno told the zoning board members.
