Belleville Redevelopment Plan For Roche Campus Takes Another Twist

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The Belleville Town Council recently voted to amend a long-running redevelopment plan for the former Roche diagnostics campus at 11 Franklin Avenue.

The nearly 19-acre property is bordered by developed properties to the northwest, Franklin Avenue to the southeast, Mill Street to the northeast and Clara Maass Medical Center to the southwest.

The former Roche campus is already partly developed, with a Wawa, Starbucks and self-storage facility currently in the area. The ordinance adopted at the council’s Feb. 27 meeting sets the zoning outlay for the remaining parcels of land.

View Ordinance #45-23 online here.

The plan clears the way for a mixed-use development with a maximum of 175 residential units. A minimum of 75 units would be restricted to people 55-years-old and up. It would also have retail components.

The Belleville Planning Board reviewed the proposal and concluded that it is consistent with the town’s master plan.

Dean Donatelli, redevelopment counsel for the township, gave some background about the amended redevelopment plan at the council meeting (watch the video below, cued to his comments, or view it online here).

According to Donatelli, the development will take place in three phases:

PHASE ONE – The first phase will include a mixed-use location with residential over retail, a boulevard or promenade used to support the retail, and an amphitheater for the public. There will be some surface parking to support these uses.

PHASE TWO – Across from the promenade, there would be commercial-use development, with no residential component.

PHASE THREE – Commercial-use development would take place at the remaining corner lot next to Wawa and the remainder of the Starbucks lot.

Some community members expressed concerns about the plan during the public comment portion of the meeting, with one resident complaining about increased traffic in the township.

“My 20-minute ride to visit my daughter in Roseland has now turned into 50 minutes to an hour – and most of it is getting out of here,” he told the council.

Meanwhile, town council candidate and former board of education member Michael Sheldon said he’s concerned that the site – 11 Franklin Avenue – is still active on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Known Contaminated Sites list.

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