Plans Revised For Allen Road Manufacturing Buildings In Basking Ridge

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Signature Acquisitions, LLC has made several changes to its proposal to remove an existing office building and build two new buildings for light industrial/manufacturing and office space in Bernards Township.

Before unveiling the revised plans at the Thursday night Bernards Township Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting, Attorney for Signature Acquisitions, Jeffrey Lehrer, announced that the applicant entered into a settlement agreement with attorney Rob Simon,who represents some of the objectors to the project.

"It is Signature's hope that the Board and perhaps even the public will view this settlement agreement as a signal of Signature's good faith and recognize Signature's sincere attempts to address many of the concerns raised throughout these hearings in a reasonable manner," said Lehrer.

As part of the settlement agreement, Signature has agreed to deed restrict its property that would prohibit any principal warehouse uses on it.

"This deed restriction should put to rest any lingering concerns about what this application is really about," said Lehrer.

Additionally, Signature presented a revised version of their proposal to remove the existing 174,546-square-foot office building and build two new buildings.

The changes include:

• Reduction of the floor area of the two buildings from 258,528 square feet in total for both buildings to 244,128 square feet or a just over 14,000 square feet reduction
• Reduced the size of the primary light manufacturing by 34 linear feet
• Reduced the number of loading bays from 12 on each building, for total of 24, reduced to 16 or 8 bays per building
• Added signage for trucks leaving the property. The signage would restrict trucks from making right turns to adjacent lots and instead directing them to exit through the Allen Road main entrance (with the exception of box trucks or delivery trucks)
• Limiting tractor-trailer traffic. No outgoing tractor-trailer traffic will be allowed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. (with the exception of box trucks or delivery trucks)
• Reduced height of buildings to be in compliance with township regulations from 52.6 feet to 48 feet

The application is still seeking a number of variances including setback for a building canopy from a residential zone; Disturbance of areas with slopes; Maximum restaining wall height; replacement of trees; and others.

The roughly 3-hour meeting was cut off around 10 p.m. and will continue on May 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Warren Craft Meeting Room in Bernards Township.

The Zoning Board will pick up on cross-examination of the traffic engineer and civil engineer and then hear from opposing attorneys and the public.

Watch the full meeting below:

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