UPDATE: A state Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by residents protesting the Sparta warehouse proposal. This story has been updated with details of Dec. 2 ruling.
Sparta residents are fighting a proposal to build a warehouse in the Sussex County township, alleging local officials amended an ordinance to allow a proposal for an 880,000-square-foot building in an area where a “mega warehouse” is not permitted.
Township officials changed an ordinance in February 2021 to allow for greater building height and more impermeable surface area for projects in the zone, which is located near freight train tracks.
Residents say the amendment allowed the developer to file an application a few months later for the project, which would be bigger than any other warehouse in Sparta.
Sparta residents have gathered more than 3,600 signatures on a petition calling for the township to reject the project, which they say would be larger than the Rockaway Mall and Sparta High School combined. Residents also launched an activist group that now has over 1,000 members.
Residents filed a lawsuit last summer against the developer, the planning board and the zoning board to block the development at 33 Demarest Road. But, the lawsuit was recently dismissed by the a state Superior Court judge.
Anand Dash, president of the grassroots group Sparta Responsible Development, filed the lawsuit in July with Neil Clark, who was recently elected to the Sparta town council.
They alleged that the proposed project is not a “warehouse” under Sparta’s land development code. Instead, it is a trucking terminal — and therefore, should not be built in the zone, according to the lawsuit.
“The will of the people was completely ignored,” said Dash, who questioned the timing of the change to the ordinance that allowed the developer to propose the mega-warehouse project a few months later.
The 70-acre, six-story-high warehouse complex could mean an influx of tractor trailers to the area, he said.
“The emissions from the diesel trucks, the noise, you have certain protected species like the bog turtle that are that are in this area,” Dash said. “All of that is going to be jeopardized, and you’re going to basically rewrite the history of Sparta and its character.”
On Dec. 2, the Court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint, saying that planning board’s decision was reasonable.
Diamond Chip Realty, the developer that proposed the project, did not respond to requests to comment.
Sparta’s township attorney declined to comment on the lawsuit and Sparta’s mayor did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Christine Quinn, a Sparta councilwoman and former mayor of the township, denied amending the ordinance was “the catalyst driving forth development of a large-scale warehouse” in the zone near the railroad tracks.
The proposed warehouse is next to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway freight railway that includes 400 miles of track in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
“Amendments to the (ordinance) were adopted with the intention to better utilize rail, with the ultimate goal of reducing truck traffic on our roads,” said Quinn. “Development of warehouses has been a permitted use in these zones for decades.”
In response to the town’s concerns about how the ordinance was amended, the Sparta Township council requested the planning board create a subcommittee to review the controversial amendment. On Oct. 19, the board announced plans to revise the amendment again. The changes include capping building sizes and changing other standards.
“What we found was (the ordinance) really did not provide the township with adequate protection from, sort of, large, uncontrolled development,” said Andrew Reina, chairman of Sparta’s planning board.
The township developed the plans to revise the ordinance using the state Planning Commission’s newly-published warehouse siting guidance, which provides suggestions and definitions for New Jersey municipalities to consider as they review their land use ordinances.
Outdated land use ordinances have been an issue across the state as warehouse development in New Jersey continues to grow, critics say.
“I have said for many, many years that Sparta Township is not immune from the pain points affecting municipalities across the country — how we differentiate ourselves is in how we react,” said Quinn.
However, the changes to the ordinance will have no impact on development applications that are currently in progress in Sparta, including the Diamond Chip warehouse application.
Dash, one of the residents who filed the lawsuit, requested that the planning board pause the Diamond Chip application until the court rules on the legal complaint. The township responded in an executive order that said moratoriums on development are prohibited by state land use law.
But, the township engineer has asked for revisions to the Diamond Chip application to fully satisfy “threshold issues.” The latest revision includes reducing the square footage of the warehouse from 880,000 to 700,000 square feet, officials said.
Township officials and the developer also have not resolved whether trailers can be used for storage on the property. Under the current plan, there will be up to 126 trailers at the site, officials said.
It is unclear when the planning board will next consider the warehouse proposal. If the developer wants to get on the December planning board hearing schedule, revised plans need to be submitted in the next few days, said Clark.
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Nyah Marshall may be reached at Nmarshall@njadvancemedia.com
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