BY CHRIS GAETANO
Staff Writer

The South Brunswick Planning Board has reversed a Feb. 15 decision that denied a developer permission to build a 1.8 million-square-foot warehouse complex on Davidsons Mill Road amid concerns over flooding and traffic.

The proposed location of the warehouse complex is adjacent to the border of Monroe and East Brunswick.

At the South Brunswick board's March 13 meeting, the developer, Trammel Crow, offered the board $100,000 toward a study that will examine the effects of warehouse development in the area, a study that the township had already been talking about undertaking before the company made its offer.

The board voted 7-1 to approve the start of construction on the condition that if the study reveals that Trammel Crow's property is contributing to the flooding, that the developer will modify its plan to fix its part of the problem. For example, if the study reveals that the drainage basin isn't big enough, the firm will have to enlarge the basin.

According to Trammel Crow's senior vice president, Andrew Mele, construction will begin as soon as possible.

"We are delighted and we think this is a great solution for South Brunswick, and is, in the truest sense, a win-win for everybody," said Mele.

The near unanimous decision among board members stands in sharp contrast to the differences of opinion when the application was first voted on in February.

One reason for the consensus was that township officials had already expressed a desire to do such a study, and the study had wide support among the board. The introduction of the funds and the linkage of the developer's plans to the study was a concept that many board members felt was acceptable.

Another issue discussed was the possibility of a court battle - if not with Trammel Crow, then with another applicant that would want to eventually develop the property.

Also, Trammel Crow's attorney, Rich Goldman, said that as a private company, they would not wait for the results of the study before beginning construction, and delaying the decision further was tantamount to outright rejecting it again.

Scope of the study

The study will be a full, comprehensive examination of the watershed in the Pigeon Swamp State Park area, where flooding has been a concern to certain residents.

It is the contention of some residents, especially members of the Eastern Villages Association (EVA), a community environmental organization that has been opposed to this application, that stormwater runoff from warehouses in the area and the New Jersey Turnpike are responsible for the flooding of the historically dry uplands area of the park. According to EVA members, the runoff has caused environmental damage to the state-protected Green Acres park land.

During the Feb. 15 meeting, EVA member Jean Dvorak used the public portion to give the board a long and detailed presentation intended to link the development of the warehouses and the widening of the turnpike to the increased flooding in the area. After this meeting, township officials began making plans to form a task force to examine the effects of warehouse development in the eastern part of the township as well as initiate a second study that would make a comprehensive examination of the entire watershed.

The scope of the study that Trammel Crow will help pay for was developed by Township Engineer Jay Cornell, Township Manager Matt Watkins and Councilman Charles Carley, who is an engineer by trade.

The study has seven goals:

+ The team will conduct a field survey downstream of the turnpike, 400 feet wide by 2,700 feet long, with cross sections every 100 feet.

+ An environmental inspection of the area downstream of the turnpike will be performed, with general identification of restricted areas such as wetlands, open waters, vegetation and soils.

+ The stormwater management plans and the state Department of Environmental Protection permits for the already approved Wakefern, D'Aniello Shopping Center, Circuit City, Opus and CNJ warehouse sites will be reviewed.

+ There will be a review of the turnpike drainage to downstream areas.

+ Field inspections and reviews of existing stormwater management facilities will be done to determine if they are working properly.

+ A watershed analysis will be performed, which will cover about 400 acres and will include a comparison of pre-development conditions and existing conditions.

+ A report will then be prepared and presented to the township.

Trammel Crow stated that while it still believes that its development would actually help with the flooding problem, due to its use of permeable pavement and other stormwater control measures, it would like to help with the study.

"Our project is going to be in that watershed," Goldman said. "Our runoff, to the extent that there is runoff, will ultimately go to those pipes that go under the turnpike, and even though we've indicated we would be reducing the problem by recharging more water post-development than pre-, we would still have water in that watershed. We think that what was of concern was this bigger picture of the drainage. And we think we want to be part of the solution to that concern."

"I think a study is necessary," said Carley. "There is a problem out there, it's as plain as the nose on our faces. ... Frankly speaking, if this offer had been made in advance of the vote on Feb. 15, I would have voted for it."

Support sought from other

warehouse owners

A concern repeated by many members of the board during the meeting was whether $100,000 would be enough to cover the cost of the study. Goldman said the company felt it was a substantial amount of money, but that he hoped other developers in the area would also contribute toward the study.

"We hope this will encourage other developers and some of the existing developers to join that fund, to add some to that fund, to really lick this problem," said Goldman.

A concern then was raised that any other company would even think about contributing to the study.

"I don't believe that this study will be done on the developers' money. I don't believe other developers will contribute to this because it's not in their enlightened self-interest," said board member Debra Johnson.

Karen Meleta, a representative of Wakefern, one of the warehouses named in the study, said that she had never heard of this study and didn't know about the fund, and that she could not comment at this time.

According to Larry Baier, of the NJDEP's Division of Watershed Management, most watershed studies tend to cost between $100,000 and $300,000. Baier said that the $300,000 studies, however, tend to involve a fairly large amount of water-quality monitoring, which can get expensive. Still, according to Baier, the study's scope, as he understood it, was fairly limited.

"Given the limited scope, I think that if they put together a good plan, such a study might be economically feasible," said Baier.

The money for the study would be given to the township with no strings attached, and the company will have no input over how the study is performed. According to Mayor Frank Gambatese, the study, for the sake of fairness, will need to be undertaken by an engineering firm not affiliated with either the township or the company.

Goldman stated several times that it is the company's position that the turnpike is responsible for most of the flooding problems and that their own warehouse complex would not contribute to the flooding problem at all. He stated that changes to this property would only happen if it proved that, specifically, Trammel Crow's development was having deleterious effects on the watershed, stressing that the firm should not suffer for what other developers are causing.

Residents expressed satisfaction that a study was finally going to be done, but also sadness that the new warehouses will soon be going up.

"My feelings are definitely mixed," said Dvorak. "I still have questions about the application, and I agree with Debbie Johnson about the traffic. I've always felt that way. But if the bond still stands, that's good, and I am pleased about the $100,000 for the study. I definitely think it's a good start."

"I don't even know how I feel today," said Bill Klimowicz, a member of EVA. "I mean, we got the study, we got the task force, but we still got these humongous buildings with all the traffic and everything else."

Still, board members, residents and the company agreed that the study was something that needs to be happen.

"I think we owe it to the residents to ... find out what in God's name is the effect of having warehouses on that part of the township, and we'll find out once and for all so that future applications - and I know that we're going to have many more coming in, whether it be warehouses, commercial or even residential - we will know once and for all what the source is of this flooding and be able to at last determine if warehouses are okay or not okay, commercial is OK or not OK," said Gambatese, who also sits on the Planning Board.