Honeywell's Helicopter Pad Approved in Morris Plains

Earlier this year, Honeywell said it’s leaving its global headquarters in Morris Township for a 40-acre office in neighboring Morris Plains.

Honeywell bought property and buildings on Route 53 in Morris Plains from McNeil-PPC Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

Honeywell’s plans are underway at the new site. At the Morris Plains Planning Board meeting last week, they approved the use of the pre-existing helicopter pad for Honeywell, said Mayor Frank Druetzler.

The helicopter pad and the property has changed ownership hands a few times over the years, starting with Warner-Lambert in 1974.

“Just from a historic standpoint, Warner-Lambert had a helicopter pad at that place and it was transferred over to Pfizer and then to Johnson & Johnson,” said Druetzler. “It’s now licensed to Honeywell. It goes back to 1974 when (Warner-Lambert) had five round trip flights allowed and Honeywell is approved for four.”

He added that four round trips are allowed every day not including Sundays or holidays. He said Honeywell doesn’t expect to use all four round trips every day.

“There will be some days they use all four and there will be some days where they don’t use any,” he said.

Druetzler added that Honeywell has no plans for adding additional helicopter pads.

“What is even better for us is that they have a different flight path. It goes over Route 53 and is the path farthest from residents,” he said.

He added at the meeting, Honeywell had “just normal questions for us and said that they were happy to be coming to our community. That’s the general sentiment with all of us.”

Honeywell are not looking to open its new site until the “middle of 2015. They have a lot of work to do. The building is just a shell right now,” said Druetzler.