Center Of Excellence Applicant Files Lawsuit Against Bridgewater

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — The ongoing saga revolving around the Center of Excellence project continues as the applicant has filed a lawsuit against the Bridgewater Planning Board.

The suit was filed in Superior Court on Jan. 31 by Kevin Coakley, attorney for the applicant, after the suit claims the planning board failed to memorialize the resolution for the project at the former Sanofi-Aventis property on Route 202/206 at its Jan. 28 meeting.

The project had been approved by the planning board on Dec. 10 despite residents' pleas and was slated to be memorialized at the Jan. 28 meeting. It was instead removed from the agenda at the last minute because the new planning board attorney, Mark Peck, and new board members did not have enough time to review the transcripts.

"With the sheer amount of material that needed to be read and reviewed by the new Board Attorney, the Board thought it a responsible measure to move the memorialization to the following meeting. This is a complex issue and they needed to ensure that all of the relevant stakeholders were fully up to speed," according to Wells Winegar, Bridgewater's spokesman.

The lawsuit claims that state statue requires the memorialization of the resolution to be done within 45 days of the meeting when the approval was granted.

"The Board's refusal to timely adopt a resolution is striking but not surprising given the history of this matter," Coakely wrote in the suit.

Mayor Matthew Moench said that the planning board will meet on Feb. 25 to memorialize the resolution.

"Nearly two years after they first filed their site plan, with a voluntary dismissal and a number of other delays of their own making along the way, it is hard to take this developer’s demand for immediate action seriously. Advance Realty knows very well that this lawsuit will not be resolved before the planning board convenes on Feb. 25 to consider this resolution, so this action is either a publicity stunt or, worse yet, a blatant and shameless attempt to end run our municipal land use process," Moench said in a statement. "Whatever their motives, this Board and this Administration will not be bullied by developers seeking to turn a profit at the cost of our resident’s quality of life."

Bridgewater has 90 days to file a response to the lawsuit. The Judge Yolanda Ciccone has been assigned to the case.

The suit also calls for Bridgewater to pay for the applicant's attorney's fees for having to file.

"As I have said many times before, development and land use matters in Bridgewater will no longer be met with a handshake and a rubber stamp," said Moench. "Our Administration will aggressively oppose any attempt to circumvent our zoning ordinance and will oppose this meritless action by Advance Realty every step of the way. Though this may be something less than Advance is used to, it is no less than what Bridgewater residents deserve."

The project calls for building a hotel, supermarket, fitness/wellness center, restaurants with outdoor dining, around 400 luxury apartment units and boutiques. This has been called one of the largest developments in township's history since the Bridgewater Commons mall.

See a brief of the lawsuit filed below:

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.