Residents Hit Back Against Honeywell Plan

Morris Township residents worried about 's plan to redevelop its corporate campus made arguments and inquiries on several fronts Monday night, hoping to keep the township's planning board from giving approvals they say could hurt the surrounding community.

The board met in front of an overflow crowd as it considered a change to the township's master plan that would be necessary for the Honeywell redevelopment to take place. It faced questions about environmental impact and traffic, as well as arguments a proposed continuing care facility could be a bad fit for the property.

No vote was taken. Residents will next have a chance to comment on the matter April 2, at a meeting entirely devoted to the master plan amendment.

Honeywell is seeking to use only portions of the old Allied Chemical/Allied Signal office and industrial buildings and to add residential uses to its 147-acre site on Columbia Turnpike and Park Avenue. It argues the corporate campus is currently underused, and would better serve the community with a mixture of offices, residential units and open green space.

"The proposed mixed-use development plan is designed to enhance the assessed value of Morris Township’s real estate base and offer new tax opportunities from new residences and businesses on the property," Honeywell says in a detailed presentation of the proposal on its corporate site.

But members of the Citizens for Better Planning in Morris Township aren't convinced of the suggested benefits, and questioned Township Planner Paul Phillips Monday night as he outlined proposed changes to the mater plan.

Environmental Impact

Part of the property was designated a critical environmental site in the 2001 state Development and Redevelopment Guide Plan. The Citizens group and its expert witness, professional planner Peter Steck, say that is because a huge aquifer recharge area that crosses southern Morris County extends under part of the site. Phillips said he researched the designation but didn’t come up with a definitive answer as to whether that's accurate.

Honeywell would be obligated to clean up a number of toxic sites on the property. Steck said the pollution occurred dating back to Allied Chemical’s purchase of the property in the 1940s, when disposal was barely regulated. He said out the detention basin at the front of the property may have been dredged on several occasions, but there is no record of where the spoils were stored.

Continuing Care

Steck also questioned if a continuing care facility, proposed as part of the redevelopment, is needed given the particular demographics of the immediate area. He said the township should wait for the  results of the 2010 census before deciding it is needed.

Traffic

Traffic is inevitably the major concern, since the intersections surrounding the site are already classified as “failing” by the state.

Should Honeywell expand the use on the site it would be responsible for its “fair share” of remediation, officials have said. But  township and county roads are involved, and the formulas for determining the fair share could differ, Phillips said.

Traffic issues are exacerbated by the proximity to the Normandy Park residential district, Steck said.

He also said a railroad grade crossing could be dangerous with increased traffic leaving the site.

The Citizens group distributed copies of its, own evaluation of the master plan amendment in which they questioned why the master plan amendment seemed to set the baseline for development as the theoretical full development potential. The group said future traffic generation and impervious coverage rules should be based on the current level of development.

Normandy Park resident Mary Gorse showed Google Earth photos of the IBM and Merck corporate headquarters sites which show much more open space than is proposed for the Honeywell site.

Planning Board Chairman Rick Haan said the March 19 planning board meeting has a full agenda, so the next amendment discussion must be in April.