By Nyah Marshall | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
A developer’s plan to build one of the largest warehouse projects ever proposed in Somerset County has been blocked by local officials.
Following a lengthy hearing on Sept. 4, the Hillsborough Township Planning Board unanimously rejected the project, which called for two warehouses totaling more than 537,000 square feet.
The proposal, first submitted by Homestead Road LLC in December 2021, would have turned nearly 90 acres of undeveloped farmland in the town into an industrial complex.
The site lies east of the Route 206 bypass, near schools and residential neighborhoods.
Residents and advocacy groups spent the past four years battling the project, speaking out at hearings and circulating a petition that gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
In their final decision, the planning board said the mega-warehouse plan was flawed and did not align with the township’s character.
“Putting this warehouse in the center of town is counter to being compatible with neighborhoods and the peace and solitude of residents,” Mayor John Ciccarelli said before making the motion to deny the application.
Other planning board members chimed in, saying the project was “too massive” and carried “too many” problems.
“Instead of coming in with an application that could fit there and be harmonious with the neighborhood, they decide to go for the biggest building they could find and jam it in there,” said former Mayor Shawn Lipani, who also serves on the board.
Attorneys for Homestead Road LLC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New Jersey environmental and advocacy groups, including Stop Warehouses and Traffic, the Watershed Institute, and the Sourland Conservancy, also opposed the project.
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