BRIDGEWATER - The township's planning board has taken the first steps in implementing the settlement over the litigation in the project formerly known as the Center of Excellence.
The planning board on Tuesday endorsed the settlement reached earlier this month between the township and Advance Realty Investors on the development of the southern portion of the former Sanofi campus on Route 202-206.
Instead of an 80,000-square-foot ShopRite, a 100-room hotel and 400 apartments, 40 of which would’ve been affordable units, and 200,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, the settlement calls for the township to allow a maximum of 300,000 square feet of warehouses and 30,000 square feet of restaurant and retail development that is intended mostly to serve the people who are working at the site.
The original plan, initially part of the Center of Excellence proposal but later called The Bridge after Advance sold the northern portion of the campus to Thor Equities for $152 million, met with a firestorm of criticism from residents who said the development would worsen traffic congestion on Route 202-206.
The planning board backed the revised redevelopment ordinance introduced earlier this month by the township council.
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"The fight has been won," said Councilman Tim Ring, who serves as the council's liaison to the planning board. "Now it's a matter of going through the review process on the way to the finish line.”
Before construction can begin, the planning board has to approve revised site plans from Advance that incorporate the terms of the legal settlement.
The settlement proposes no one warehouse can be more than 125,000 square feet, about twice the size of a football field, in no more than 250,000 square feet of warehousing as a primary use. The remaining 50,000 square feet can be warehousing for use by other tenants.
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The township will also allow research laboratories and facilities, medical offices and light manufacturing. One drive-thru restaurant will be allowed if it is set back 125 feet from the highway.
The settlement, however, presents one challenge for Bridgewater: developing a plan where to locate the 40 affordable rental units that were part of the township's settlement of its affordable housing litigation.
Mayor Matthew Moench previously said the township will present a plan to meet the affordable housing quota in the coming few months.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Bridgewater Planning Board endorses redevelopment plan for Route 202-206 property
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