Monmouth Commerce Center Hearing In Howell Continued To January

HOWELL, NJ — The Howell Township Planning Board will continue hearing the application on the proposal to build 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space on Randolph Road in January.

The Monmouth Commerce Center project, which has been before the board since April, is fiercely opposed by a group called Howell for Open Land and Preservation of the Environment, or HOPE. It will next be heard at the Jan. 16 planning board meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.

The project would replace 100 acres of forest on Randolph and Oak Glen roads with a two-story office warehouse, eight warehouse/industrial buildings, more than 700 parking spots, 142 trailer parking spots and more than 250 loading spaces.

There would be five driveways providing access to the site along Randolph Road.

One of the major concerns about the proposal is traffic on roads surrounding and leading to and from the site. In October, the Monmouth County Development Review Committee heard the proposal and made three requirements before it would fully hear the project and take action.

From the meeting minutes, the committee's requirements are:

1. The applicant shall submit a road improvement plan, as well as a traffic signal plan for the Lakewood-Farmingdale (County Route 547) and Randolph Roads rntersection. The plan shall provide a left turn lane for traffic turning from Lakewood-Farmingdale Road to Randolph Road, as well as a left turn lane for traffic turning from Randolph Road to Lakewood-Farmingdale Road. The plan shall indicate existing right-of-way features, required right-of-way acquisition(s), proposed road improvements, required traffic signal equipment, phasing, and a timing directive.
2. The applicant shall update the traffic impact study to reflect timing changes recently implemented at the intersection of County Routes 21/547/549, and revise mitigation to adequately accommodate traffic generated by the proposed development.
3. The applicant shall forward a copy of this application to the Ocean County Planning Board for its review and comment regarding stormwater impacts to the bridge located along Brook Road at the boundary between Monmouth and Ocean counties.

Last week, an engineer for some of those opposing the project testified that traffic counts done at Route 547 are invalid and underestimate the amount of traffic that will be generated by the project.

"There are too many variables and too many unknowns," said Joseph Fishinger, a traffic engineer with NV5 of Parsippany. You can listen to his testimony in the video below, starting about 25 minutes in.

After Fishinger's testimony and cross-examination from Meryl Gonchar Sills, the attorney for the developer of Monmouth Commerce Center, there was a brief resumption of questioning of the planner for the developer before the planning board carried the hearing to the Jan. 16 meeting.

Board chairman Robert Nash said the application is nearing the public comment phase.

In addition to the video from the Dec. 5 hearing, you can read more about previous testimony on the project below:

• 1.2M-Square-Foot Warehouse, Truck Center Before Howell Planners
• Monmouth Commerce Center Hearing In Howell Continued To October

Note: This article has been updated to correct the date of the January planning board meeting. Patch regrets the error.

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Howell Patch on Facebook.