Edison Residents Oppose Plan For Former Charlie Brown's Site

EDISON, NJ — Residents from Edison have come together to oppose a developer’s plan to build 23 townhomes on the site of the former Charlie Brown's restaurant on Plainfield Road.

The project by Markim Developers seeks to demolish the now-shuttered restaurant to build three-bedroom townhouses on the 2-acre site. The lot area required for the project is 100 acres.

Residents have been canvassing the neighborhood and have also created a Facebook group to discuss matters relating to the new townhomes. Houses along Plainfield Road, Edgewood Road, Woodrow Wilson Drive have signs outside their homes, opposing the new development.

Residents learned about the new project only a few weeks ago. They began organizing in mid-June and on June 28, started organizing collectively.

“If you go street after street, everything is a family home. Townhouse construction would be completely out of place,” said resident Lori Jordan who lives on Golf Road.

Over 350 residents have now joined the group's Facebook page. “Part of the reason why this got so much traction is that how blatantly bad this plan is,” said resident Neeraj Shah.

“There’s a two-acre property and if a few single-family homes were coming, it would fit the neighborhood and wouldn’t have caused such an uproar. Building 23 townhomes in that parcel of land is a stretch,” Shah said.

Residents expressed concern over the “changing character” of the neighborhood and said the townhomes would add to traffic woes and overcrowding of schools.

The proposed development is located near the entrance of Woodrow Wilson Middle School and Woodbrook Elementary School. A little further, on the border of Metuchen is St Joseph High School. These areas witness heavy school traffic and other traffic during the day.

The developers are seeking preliminary and final site plan approval from the Zoning Board, along with use and bulk variances to build the homes in a property zoned for golf course. The Metuchen Golf and Country Club are adjacent to the proposed site.

Residents attended the June zoning board meeting in large numbers and some even dialed in to speak against the proposed plan.

During the presentation, many noticed that the proposed townhomes do not have a play area for children. “There are houses and car parking lots, but there's absolutely zero play area for children,” said resident Sandeep Ramakrishna. “The closest play area is the high school and middle school across the road. This is also a child safety issue.”

Residents say the project is contradictory to the township’s master plan, including the preservation of cohesive neighborhoods.

“If they change the zoning on this 2-acre lot, from the golf course to residential, what's to stop the golf course from wanting to rezone some of their acreages, especially on Grove Avenue, which is a very busy road,” said Jordan.

Resident Amit Patel said he wasn’t opposed to development, as he understands “progress is important.”

“But this is just too intensive a project. Imagine how you're going to fit all those buildings on that land. It'll be striking.”

The group is currently focusing its energies on the upcoming July 27 meeting. “These two acres 23 townhouses is the proverbial bridge too far," said Jordan.

The group hopes to mobilize as many residents as possible to attend the upcoming meeting. They've also organized a community rally on July 21 across the street from Charlie Brown's.

The July 27 meeting will be held on the first floor of the Municipal Building, 100 Municipal Blvd. The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

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