Mike Deak, MyCentralJersey.com
August 8, 2023
The hot button legal battle over recently passed ordinances restricting warehouse development continues to heat up with two more lawsuits filed against both Hillsborough and Franklin.
The lawsuits, filed in Somerset County Superior Court, target ordinances approved by the governing bodies in the two municipalities as warehouse construction has ignited a firestorm of community opposition.
Hillsborough is now facing four lawsuits contesting its warehouse ordinance passed in June. Franklin, the epicenter of warehouse construction in Somerset County, is also facing at least a half dozen other lawsuits over ordinances adopted in both 2022 and 2023.
Bridgewater is also facing a legal challenge to its warehouse ordinance.
The lawsuit also alleges township officials “failed to introduce into the record a scintilla of reliable evidence” to support the warehouse ban.
“Indeed, the Township has absolutely no basis to prohibit warehouse uses other than to appease neighborhood objectors,” the lawsuit continues.
Valley Industrial, which has plans to build warehouses on its properties on New Centre Road and at the intersection of Valley Road and Auten Road, calls the ordinance “kneejerk reactionary zoning” and repeats the allegation that township officials failed introduce evidence “to justify the devastating ban on warehouse, shipping and receiving facilities.”
The new Franklin lawsuits filed by B9 Schoolhouse Owner LLC and five property owners at the Weston Road and Mettlers Road intersection, focus on a 2023 ordinance that sets new noise regulations that the lawsuits allege essentially bans warehouse development in the area in the township’s northwestern corner.
B9 Schoolhouse Owner wants to build two warehouses totalling about 185,000 square feet on Schoolhouse Road, and the other developers want to build a 621,000-square-foot warehouse.
The B9 Schoolhouse Owner LLC lawsuit alleges the Township Council “appeased a vocal minority of residents” in the nearby Canal Walk senior community by adopting the ordinance.
The lawsuit also argues the township failed to get approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) before adopting the ordinance which is “inconsistent” with the township’s Master Plan.
The other lawsuit alleges the Township Council “improperly demonstrated favoritism toward certain residential property owners” and did not follow the proper procedures in passing the ordinance.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com