Business & Tech

Honeywell Plan is Hot Topic in Letters to the Editor

Four readers sound off.

plan to redevelop its headquarters campus in Morris Township has been a hot topic among locals of late–and in Patch's virtual mailbag as well. Below are four recent Letters to the Editor commenting on the proposal.

April 25, 2011

When my husband and I moved to Convent Station 25 years ago, we knew Allied Signal was zoned for business. During this time we have endured Route 24 cutting through our development and we have watched massive development on the Exxon property.  Now we have Honeywell wanting vast development which will require a zoning change and changing the Master Plan. Families move into areas knowing what the zoning is. How much more development can this area tolerate?

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Our property values have decreased, our quality of air has been compromised, and our environment is in danger.  Honeywell only wants to develop for their benefit. When approved, they will sell off to developers. If it is assisted living, there will be doctors, nurses, staff and visitors, which brings cars. Town houses will bring more cars, and then there is the 5 story 250 room hotel.

The bottom line is more traffic at the over-burdened Columbia Turnpike exit, more pollution, more airport travel, more required township services.  Keep the Master Plan as it is. Our township officials need to listen to the residents who want to preserve the character of their neighborhoods and their quality of life.  Elections are in November.

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Betty  Barrett
Convent Station (Morris Township)

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April 22, 2011

I believe that the proposed Honeywell General Development Plan (GDP) is not appropriate for Morris Township and will not generate the expected revenues. As a result the current residents will pay for this development through increased taxes and decreased property values.

Honeywell posits that the proposed GDP for the property in Morris Township will generate $371,000 in additional revenue for the Township.  (Total Township budget is $33,400,000). 

The proposed 250 room hotel is estimated to generate $275,000 in room occupancy taxes.  This represents 74% of the expected additional revenue and deserves further investigation. What are the assumptions surrounding this income? Does the area need another hotel? Is it possible that the proposed hotel will cannibalize the income currently being received from the other hotels in the Township? Will it destroy the economic viability of those hotels?

Will the proposed 313 two and three bedroom stacked housing units only incur an additional 39 public school children? While this may be an average of some kind, it is not an absolute. There could be significantly more children and/or a few atypical development childRen. How much could our school taxes go up if all doesn’t go as planned?

It is not clear how Honeywell arrived at the commercial per capita costs for the development.  The residents deserve to know the detailed financial assumptions that are the basis of Honeywell’s analysis.  It is unknown if the Township can handle the extra costs of police, fire, library, administration, garbage and yard waste collection without adding to personnel or capital investment in cars, trucks, etc? Are the Township residents willing to see their taxes increase to pay for these additional costs?

What about a decline in property values in the Township? Traffic studies indicate significant problems with congestion backing up traffic around the Honeywell site. Honeywell’s current traffic generator is 385 cars and Honeywell calculates 1351 cars with the proposed mixed-use development.  Chronic traffic congestion resulting from this development will have a negative impact on perceived desirability of the area. Estimated assessed values for the property that will be affected by this increase in traffic are $436.3 Million. (Districts 4-7)  While assessed values may not change, market values may decline due to the traffic congestion.  How would a housing market decline affect this area and the long term assessed values?  How much are those residents willing to lose in property value?

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, why do our elected officials want to abandon the Master Plan which states as its First Goal: Preservation of the residential and open space character of the community? 

Linda Wilson,
Morris Township

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April 22, 2011

The Honeywell development application is a threat to the quality of life and property values throughout Morris Township. The township is valued for its quality of life because it is mostly quiet residential areas, not densely developed and still has some greenery left. Consequently, property values are relatively higher compared to more densely developed municipalities. The zoning designation of the Honeywell property has safeguarded the quality of life and property values to the benefit of all residents of the township and it would continue to serve them well if it remains unchanged. The applicant is motivated by profit. It has presented estimates from hired agents promising great benefits for the residents. There have been four public meetings of the Planning Board. All voices from the public were strongly opposed to the application. There was not one single voice supporting it. Do all these citizens, called “hysterical” by the applicant, not know what is good for them or have they recognized the falsehood of a Trojan horse? I hope that the Planning Board does not repeat the errors of the past when it made draconian zoning changes in the western township and rammed them down the throats of the screaming public.

Jacob Varsano
Morris Township, NJ 

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April 21, 2011

I am a resident of Morris Township and I oppose the rezoning of the Allied Signal/Honeywell property located at 101 Columbia Road. 

Starting with the November 29, 2010 Planning Board Meeting, I have attended all of the planning board meetings concerning the Honeywell redevelopment proposal  and have listened to the informal testimony given by Jason Larry of Honeywell's Global Real Estate Team, Traffic Engineer Karl A. Pehnke of Langen Engineering, John Morris Remediation Manager for Honeywell, Fiscal Expert Jay Biggins of Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company, LLC., Donald Clinton of Urban Design firm Cooper Robertson and Partners and Mr. Preston, Real Estate advisor to Honeywell.

Absent from the long list of experts offering their testimony was Dakon P. Brodmerkel of CH2M Hill, the licensed professional  responsible for the oversight of the investigation and cleanup of the Honeywell site effective September of 2010, which includes issuing no further action letters for open cases on theHoneywell property. This is an active site with confirmed contamination and with no assurance or testimony from the licensed professional, I filed a freedom of information request with NJDEP. After three days in Trenton scanning in and reviewing file records for the site, I have to agree with the Daily Record's December 1, 1989 article wherein writer Liv Osby quotes John J. Trela Assistant Commissioner for Hazardous Waste Management as saying that the investigation of the contamination at the Allied site is "like a geological detective story". NJDEP file records reveal that excavated soils and shrubs on the main site (101 Columbia Road) have been reused and moved around the property during the many construction and remediation activities that have taken place over the years. An independent environmental expert should be retained before the planning board considers rezoning the Allied Signal/Honeywell site which would allow the construction of public bike trails, residential units, a continuing care retirement community, and a hotel.

Residents in and around Morris Township have voiced their concerns at the Planning Board Meetings over the proposed Honeywell redevelopment. Much attention was given to the increased traffic in the already congested roadways, the potential negative financial impact on the value of homes and the release of contaminants into the air from excavation/construction activities. The proposed redevelopment would subject residents in and around Morris Township to the noise and pollution created by the activities of a mixed-use campus 24 hours a day seven days a week over a period of twenty years. Such a proposed mixed-use development would forever change the open space character and desirability of living in Morris Township.

Solena Porras
Morris Township, NJ 


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