Warehouse Application Rejected For Second Time By Hillsborough After Lawsuit

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — The Hillsborough Township Planning Board is doubling down on its decision to reject a warehouse application proposed on Harvard Way.

At the Dec. 4 meeting, the Planning Board unanimously voted in favor of supporting its previous decision from Oct. 13, 2022, to deny Harvard Way JMJ4, LLC (Redcom / SAI)'s application to build a 107,366 sq. ft. warehouse near the Green Hills Community.

The application was brought back before the Planning Board due to an order by Somerset County Superior Court Judge William Meenen in a lawsuit filed by the developer.

Harvard Way JMJ4, LLC filed a lawsuit in December 2022 claiming the Planning Board's "denial came based on an obvious bias against warehousing applications due to public pressure and the current political climate."

Meenen ordered the Board in February to revisit its decision and explain why it decided to follow stormwater testimony from the engineer of the Green Hills Community objectors over the applicant.

The board's biggest reason for the denial in 2022 and remained an issue on Dec. 4 was linked to the lack of testing on the impacts of flooding in the area along with not knowing who the tenant would be to occupy the space to understand its full impact on the community.

Committeeman Shawn Lipani, who sits on the Planning Board, noted "inconsistencies" in the applicant's testing of soil and classification of the soil itself.

"What we needed and what we had requested — and again the applicant said no to this — was an analysis," said Planning Board Chairman Carl Suraci, referring to the stormwater runoff into the Raritan River. "Because, as we know, the Raritan will back up, but perhaps at a later time. And this could just exacerbate the flooding conditions that we have there."

"We asked numerous times, requests to do this analysis, and they flat out said no. So there was an opportunity," said Suraci.

Lipani added to Suraci's comments, referring back to 2021 when Superstorm Ida hit the area.

"I was there during post-Ida with the Governor standing at the base of Dukes Parkway East and it was two days after the storm, and the road was still flooded," said Lipani. "So to say that this area is not impacted severely by the 100, even a hard rainstorm now, you don't even need a big storm... Is affected severely by this side of town."

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