MILLSTONE – Residents are seeking assistance from the Township Committee in a bid to prevent the construction of warehouses in Manalapan on a property that borders Millstone Township.
Resident Ron Schlegel voiced his concerns to the Township Committee on Oct. 17 regarding an application that is currently before the Manalapan Planning Board.
An applicant is seeking approval to construct two warehouses at the intersection of Route 33 and Smithburg Road (Route 527). Smithburg Road is the border of Manalapan and Millstone. Under Manalapan’s zoning, warehouses are a permitted use in the zone where the warehouses are proposed.
Schlegel resides on Timmons Hill Drive, which intersects Smithburg Road opposite the property where the warehouses are proposed to be constructed.
The warehouses proposed by Joseph Skeba would be built on a 97-acre parcel that has 1,500 feet of frontage on Route 33 eastbound and 1,500 feet of frontage on Smithburg Road.
One building would total 300,220 square feet and the second building would total 652,000 square feet, for a total of 952,220 square feet, according to testimony presented during a recent meeting of the Manalapan Planning Board.
The board is expected to resume hearing testimony on the Skeba application at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 at Manalapan town hall, Route 522 and Taylors Mills Road.
Schlegel, who voiced his concerns about the application during a Manalapan Planning Board hearing in September, spoke about the potential impact of the warehouses on his neighborhood with Millstone’s elected officials.
“[The warehouses] will be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he told the Township Committee. “They will have probably 100 to 200 trucks in our neighborhood coming from the New Jersey Turnpike, down Route 33 to our town, that will bring a lot of noise pollution, a lot of traffic, a lot of air pollution, a lot of issues to our town.
“I certainly feel this is not something we want next to our town and our neighbors. My neighbors in the area are very concerned that this is really going to change the quality of our life,” Schlegel said.
He discussed the visual impact the buildings would have on Millstone and made note of the warehouses having a proposed entrance on Smithburg Road, which Schlegel described as an unsafe road.
“Over the 20 years I have lived here, I personally have witnessed maybe 10 accidents. I have pulled people out of cars, there are all kinds of issues there,” Schlegel said. “The buildings will change how our town looks. They change everything about our neighborhoods. From our standpoint, this cannot go through.”
Mayor Gary Dorfman said committee members’ actions are limited because the warehouses are being proposed in Manalapan. He said they would pursue possible measures such as creating awareness of the details of the plan and remaining in contact with Manalapan officials.
“We have a reasonable working relationship with the adjacent municipality, we will share with them our wants and desires, we will let them know what we see with respect to issues of the current plans and we will do everything we can to minimize the impact on our town,” Dorfman said.
Committeeman Fiore Masci recommended that Schlegel, in addition to voicing his concerns before the Manalapan Planning Board, contact the Manalapan Township Committee, which is responsible for appointing members of the Planning Board.
“It is vital that your voice be heard not only here, but in Manalapan because they are pulling the levers on this,” Masci said. “Show up at that Planning Board meeting and share your concerns. Let them go on record, saying are you going to be responsible for the actions that are going to take place, from the trucks coming down that road? You have to hammer the Township Committee in Manalapan. Remember who selects the Planning Board members. It starts at the top.”
