Angry Township Residents Demanded, and Will Get, More Time To Question Honeywell Presenters

Morris Township residents got mad, made demands–and ultimately, got what they wanted at Monday evening's planning board meeting: the scheduling of another meeting devoted solely to questions from the public on the Honeywell redevelopment proposal.   has proposed a major build-out on its 147-acre campus located on Columbia Road in Morris Township, to include some combination of additional office space, residential units, a continuing-care retirement community, a hotel, and parking decks or lots.  The development would require a change to the township's master plan.

There were audible groans at the 7:30 p.m. start of Monday's planning board meeting when vice-chairman Franz Vintshger, leading the session in the absence of chairman Rick Haan, announced that there would be a very limited window of time for public questions. Vintshger told the crowd that Honeywell would have the floor first, and said that the public comment portion of the meeting would occur in the time remaining between the end of the Honeywell presentation (which occurred at 8:15 p.m.) and 9 p.m., when representatives from Villa Walsh Academy were scheduled to appear.

At the first meeting to discuss the Honeywell proposal, in November, a long line of residents was still waiting to ask questions when the board ended the meeting at midnight. At the Feb. 7 meeting, according to attendee reports, approximately 50 minutes were allowed for public comment and multiple residents were again left standing in line.

Prior to the Honeywell presentation on Monday, Brian Burns, board attorney, announced that two members of the planning board, Anthony Romano and Laurence D. Bobbin, would step down from the board on Honeywell-related matters due to pensions they receive from the company. 

Honeywell Presentation

The Honeywell presentation on Monday covered two areas: why the company is seeking mixed-use zoning and how it arrived at its estimates on the number of schoolchildren that would be added to the school district by the proposed housing units.

Part one, the rationale behind mixed-use zoning, covered the depressed state of the Class A office space market in the area and described how redeveloping the Honeywell campus under the current zoning would create a glut of office space that would take 18 years for the market to absorb.

The second part of the presentation dealt with the number of schoolchildren that the mixed-use development would bring to the school district. A chart was shown, with numbers that the presenters said were obtained from the Morris School District, showing how many children each of Morris Township's condo and townhouse developments send to the public schools. After multiple residents questioned the numbers, particularly the assertion that the Moore Estate Development has 2 public-school children, it was determined that the numbers would be double-checked by Honeywell. This and other documents are to be posted by Honeywell in their online archive of public documents relating to the redevelopment, though, at the time this article was completed, the link led to an error page.

Questions from the public

When the public comment segment of Monday's meeting began, Vintshger asked that anyone who stood online at the previous meetings but had been unable to get to the microphone, should be allowed to move to the front of the line. He also requested that residents confine themselves to questions rather than comments.

The line of questioners snaked around the room as it had at the previous meetings. The topics covered included:

If Honeywell obtained the zoning change would the company sell or retain ownership in:

• The continuing care facility?  (The property would be sold.)
• The residential units? (The property would be sold.)
• The hotel? (Honeywell could possibly maintain some financial interest.)

What is Class A office space? (Large, high-end buildings, with expensive finishes, landscaping and other amenities.)

Will the planning board seek the input of Morris Township's other boards or commissions, such as the environmental commission? (They can but are not obligated to do so.)

Is there a time frame for how the steps between the current presentations and possible board approval would proceed? (No.)

Will the planning board seek information from a traffic consultant other than the expert brougt in by Honeywell? (It is under consideration.)

Is it possible to hold a non-binding referendum on the question of changing the master plan so that citizens could better communicate their desires to the township government? (No.)

Does Morris Township have the sewer capacity to handle a development of this size? (Yes.)

Why does Honeywell's proposal seem to indicate that traffic would decrease under the mixed-use plan? (Because they are not comparing traffic generated by the mixed use plan to current traffic, they are comparing it to what traffic would be if they built the maximum amount of office space allowable under the current zoning.)

Will construction change the current direction of groundwater flow? (No.)

Is there a section of the property that does not meet environmental standards for residential developments? (Yes, but that section will be in the commercial area of the property, not where the residences will be built.)

Tension seemed to mount as the time alloted to public questions dwindled, to the point where a union representative for local plumbers was, essentially, shouted down from the microphone when he began to tell the planning board why his membership needed this development. "That's not a question!" was yelled by multiple people, who had been told earlier by Vintshger that they should confine themselves to questions and not comments.

Vintshger allowed the questions to continue until almost 9:15 p.m., then said he had to move on to the Villa Walsh matter. At that point, members of the audience began calling out requests for another meeting. The board conferred among themselves and with the Honeywell representatives, then determined that another meeting would be held on Monday, March 14 at 7:30.