Lawsuit Threat Pushes Vote To Remove Light Manufacturing Back In Basking Ridge

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — A final vote to remove light manufacturing as a permitted use in a portion of the Township was pushed to Dec. 23 due to a possible threat of litigation from Signature Acquisitions, LLC.

"In my over 40 years of practicing law, I would rather exercise an overabundance of caution and make sure this thing is entirely proper and that there is no challenge to this ordinance and if this ordinance is adopted it is easily defendable," said Attorney John Belardo at the Dec. 10 Committee meeting. "I would hate to drag you all back but I would rather do this 100 percent correct and cut off any remote legal challenges that Signature Aquistions may have with this ordinance."

The Township Committee previously unanimously introduced an ordinance that removed light manufacturing as a permitted use in the E-2 and E-4 Office Zones at its Nov. 26 meeting.

The ordinance followed the Zoning Board's denial of Signature Acquisitions, LLC's application on Allen Road to remove an existing office building and build two new buildings for light industrial/manufacturing and office space on Nov. 14 citing issues with the D-4 variance, which looked to exceed the allowable Floor Area Ratio(FAR) from 15 percent to 19.83 percent. Read More: Basking Ridge Denies Allen Road Manufacturing Building Application

A public hearing and final vote on the ordinance was set for Dec. 10. At that meeting, Signature Aquistion's Attorney Keith Loughlin submitted a letter and spoke stating his arguments against the ordinance.

Among the arguments was that proper notice was not sent to property owners in the district affected by the zoning change. He noted this is in violation of NJSA 40:55D-62.1.

"We believe the proposed ordinance appears to be improperly proposed and targeted based on political opposition to stop my client from proceeding with its planned mixed-use development which includes light manufacturing and office space," said Loughlin.

Several residents spoke at the meeting countering Loughlin's assertion that the ordinance was politically motivated.

"I would point out that the opposition to this development was a community opposition and was not in any way a political opposition," said resident Harvey Gerhard.

"We had Dems. We had Republicans. We had unaffilitaes. We had everybody. It was the Hills and Fellowship Village who came together and the people on Mount Airy… nothing political about this," said resident Nancy D’Andrea, who started the Bernards Township Democratic Committee.

Resident Sherry Nelson also pointed out how dated the ordinance is.

"Wholeheartedly I know I was one of the hundreds of people who wrote you emails begging you to make this change and to update our ordinances. The ordinances that are old from the 60s did not take into consideration the Hills development and the thousands of residents who live there and other residential properties. And it's time for change," said Nelson. "I wholeheartedly support it and taking this on so quickly and representing the will of the people."

Ultimately, the Township Committee heeded the advice of Belardo to postpone the public hearing and final vote to the Dec. 23 with proper notice being sent to property owners ahead of time.

"I believe in doing things right, not necessarily fast," said Committeeman Andrew McNally. "And what that means if we have to defer action just to make sure this is buttoned up, I support that."

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