New Jersey Herald: Andover considers zone change
March 29th, 2010By Seth Augenstein
March 27, 2010
ANDOVER TOWNSHIP — A township-wide change to industrial zones is likely to be introduced by ordinance Monday night.
But there is some opposition to the change, which has been called “illegal spot zoning” by a planner hired by a local objector.
The ordinance would redefine up to 1,100 acres, or 9 percent, of township land currently zoned as industrial. The new designations would split up that land to reflect its current uses, including public land, mixed-use, two separate industrial zones, and low-density residential.
The wholesale master plan amendment was proposed (and funded through an escrow account) by Cambridge Pavers Inc. and Limecrest Quarry Developers, who have proposed a $30-million, 24-hour, 160,000-square-foot, self-contained concrete paving stone plant for one of the industrial zones in the northeast section of the township. The facility would be supplied by rock from the nearby Limecrest Quarry, a site originally founded by Thomas Edison more than a century ago.
The zoning change, recommended by a 6-2 vote of the township Land Use Board last week, would make the application consistent with its new zoning — and would remove the series of variances Cambridge and Limecrest sought from the board late last year, before pulling the plans.
Objection surfaced at those Land Use Board meetings last year from residents who said the frequent truck traffic would be a disruption to nearby homes.
But the zoning change has also unearthed some official legal opposition. Resident Ronald Krueger, who lives near the site but just over the border in Sparta, has hired both an attorney and a planner to oppose the application. The planner’s report strenuously objects to the application, citing the township’s existing regulations on concrete paver plants and some sensitive environmental factors in the area.
“Without doubt, this draft document and the two recommendations for amendments to the zoning ordinance contained within it are designed to benefit solely the private interests of Andrew Mulvihill, an owner of Limecrest Quarry Developers LLC, and Charles Gamarekian, owner of Cambridge, without regard not only to the historic impacts such a use has had on the surrounding community, but without regard to the foreseeable impacts,” said the report, prepared by Burgis Associates, Inc.
Mayor Tom Walsh disagrees. He said Friday that the usage of the property — described regularly as a “moonscape” in hearings so far — would be ideally suited to the Cambridge Pavers proposal. He said Krueger’s objection stems from Krueger’s ownership of a competitor in the local paving stone business.
“We pay a planner to do what’s best for the township, they pay a planner to do what’s best for one entrepreneur,” Walsh said Friday. “You’ve got enough money, you can pay somebody to say what you want them to say.”
More than 400 of the 1,100 industrial acres are owned by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as the Nature Conservancy. However, among seven areas identified are about 244 acres that could be rezoned as one of two new industrial designations allowing further development. The remaining industrial land would be split up into new zones reflecting what the current status: the open space would become “public use,” and other areas would become either mixed-use, or low-density residential.
Officials said the township planner was working on drafting the ordinance Friday afternoon, but it would likely be ready for Monday night’s Township Committee meeting.
Note: View the article here.
