Neighbors Blast Council After Parsippany OKs New Warehouse Zone

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Residents in the neighborhoods surrounding 20–30 Lanidex Plaza expressed their dissatisfaction after the township council proposed allowing warehousing and fulfillment operations on the site.

According to Mayor James Barberio, Parsippany has been grappling with the ongoing issue of unused office space throughout the township, which is all sitting vacant and costing taxpayers money every year.

Despite the fact that an official formal proposal has not yet been made, the council voted on July 25 to rezone the lots at 20 and 30 Lanidex Plaza West to allow for warehousing and fulfillment operations.

Prior to the vote, Barberio discussed the township's current dilemma: adding more affordable housing or allowing a warehouse in that space. Despite the fact that Parsippany has a significant affordable housing requirement, the mayor stated that another housing complex is not their preferred option at this time.

The mayor instead stated that he believed that building a warehouse in place of the office buildings was the right financial step to take for the township.

However, the neighbors who spoke up at the July 25 meeting did not share the administration's enthusiasm for the plan.

Resident Julia Peterson stated that she had attended the council meeting because several property owners in the area surrounding Lanidex Plaza received a notice about the meeting and public hearing.

Peterson was one of the many residents frustrated and confused as to why the town would move forward with the warehouse idea without considering how it would negatively impact the nearby community.

"The trajectory of this plan seems to be to develop a warehouse. Other than the fact that it's right next to my house and right next to the Par-Troy Funeral Home, which are both residences, When you enact this plan tonight with this vote, it seems to me there's not a lot of going back from a warehouse," Peterson said.

Residents who spoke during the open forum expressed concerns about the increase in traffic, lighting, and noise, especially impacting homes and nearby Eastlake Elementary School.

"I feel like the town has it in for us that live next to this site. Eastlake School is 100 feet from this project. One hundred feet. Those kids are just going to be hearing garbage trucks; we all know what garbage trucks sound like, and those of us who live near PARQ, we're already living with that every day," Peterson said.

Resident John Von Achen, who works as a supply chain leader and has over 20 years of experience working in warehouses, explained that the development of a warehouse will almost certainly result in an increase in light and traffic.

"Any applicant that would seek to make use of this property if it becomes a warehouse-accessible space will need to adhere to noise pollution, light pollution, traffic volume, traffic safety, traffic flow. They will need to make sure that they adhere to all of these performance standards, which are already on our ordinances," Von Achen said.

Across the street from 20 and 30 Lanidex Plaza West is the 600-unit PARQ development, which is replacing a demolished office park on Parsippany Road.

One of Barberio's concerns with this new development area is that if the town does nothing on this site, it'll continue to decay and eventually become even more multi-family housing.

Von Achen questioned why the council had not considered building a neighborhood of single-family homes on the development site as a way to use the space while maintaining the integrity of the surrounding community.

Barberio responded by saying that the township's concern is that if an application for a neighborhood of single-family homes were to be denied, then there is a greater likelihood of the next application being 100 percent affordable housing, which the town would not be able to deny.

"That's the last thing we want over there, because then everything would be housing," Barberio said.

The council then emphasized that their vote was only to allow warehousing as a possible use and that any future site plan would have to be presented to the planning board and reviewed and evaluated for potential traffic, stormwater, architectural, and noncompliance with township standards.