Kenilworth planning board approves Durham School Services bus facility at 251 Monroe with conditions

The Kenilworth Planning Board voted to approve a use variance and site-plan application allowing Durham School Services to base and maintain school buses at 251 Monroe Avenue after testimony from the applicant’s engineers, traffic consultant and the bus operator.

The application, presented by attorney Larry Cali for 251 Monroe Owner LLC, covers reuse of Building 33 and surrounding paved areas on the roughly 43.4-acre industrial site. Cali told the board the proposal was “a nice feel good case” and described the project as limited to bus storage and related operations on a portion of the property.

The board approved the application by roll call (motion by Mr. Ladadi; second by Mr. Mazzeo). Because the matter required a D1 (use) variance, the mayor and council liaison stepped down for the hearing and seven voting members considered the case; all seven voted yes.

Why it matters: board members and professionals said the proposal is for a narrow, operational use — parking, dispatch and limited maintenance — that supports the public function of transporting students while locating activity internally on an existing industrial site. The applicant will remove several small buildings, add pavement and install perimeter controls while keeping maintenance and fueling indoors.

Key facts and conditions - Applicant/owner: 251 Monroe Owner LLC; attorney: Larry Cali. The board heard engineering, traffic and planning testimony from Robert Fruid (Dynamic Engineering), Connor Hughes (traffic), and planner Paul Rickey. Amy Abdelkader testified for Durham School Services as area general manager. - Site and legal approvals already obtained or pending: Union County planning board approval (July 2024, per testimony), an individual NJDEP flood-hazard permit (Aug. 2024), and a pending NJDEP wetlands LOI. The applicant said the DEP reviewed and approved stormwater and flood-hazard submissions. - Use variance: The board heard that bus parking and operations are not a permitted use in the Industrial Zone as written; attorneys and the planner framed the request as an inherently beneficial use tied to school transportation and therefore meeting the positive criteria; the board applied the negative/balancing criteria and approved with conditions. - Parking and operations: The plan provides 101 bus parking spaces plus 16 car spaces (117 total). Applicant testified to about 136 total employees associated with the tenant, of whom roughly 115 would be on-site at any given time. Durham operation counts described in testimony: roughly 81 morning routes and 95 afternoon routes; peak arrival windows were described as roughly 5–10 a.m. and 1–6 p.m. - Outdoor storage / impervious coverage: The site currently has approximately 19.5% of the property used for outdoor storage; the application raises that to about 19.7%, above the ordinance 10% outdoor-storage cap, requiring variance relief. Overall impervious coverage was given as about 64.3% (below the 80% maximum allowed by ordinance). - Floodplain / environmental controls: The Rahway River flood elevation was cited near elevation 76; the applicant holds a DEP individual permit for the flood-hazard area and provided buoyancy calculations for buses. Wetland delineation (LOI) remains pending but the applicant reported that preliminary DEP feedback supported the plan’s delineation. Two deed-restricted remediation areas on the site were described as outside the proposed work area. - Stormwater and water quality: Because the project removes buildings and creates vehicle surface area, the applicant will use pervious pavement and an underdrained liner system to meet 80% total suspended solids removal. Harbor Engineering (the board’s reviewer), DEP and the county soil conservation district reviewed stormwater. The board’s engineer recommended, and the applicant agreed to consider, oil/water separators or other additional safeguards upstream of inlets as part of final compliance. - Maintenance and environmental controls: Durham’s area general manager, Amy Abdelkader, testified maintenance would include “changing of tires, brakes, oil changes, transmissions, engines, no bodywork. No bodywork.” (direct testimony). The applicant and contractor testified that all maintenance and vehicle washing will occur inside Building 33, that no fueling will occur on-site, and that used fluids will be stored on-site and removed by licensed waste contractors. The applicant agreed to obey building-department / UCC requirements for interior floor drains and disposal procedures. - Lighting and nuisance controls: The applicant requested pole- and wall-mounted lighting mounted higher than the ordinance’s 15-foot standard (testimony cited 20-foot building-mounted and 25-foot pole-mounted fixtures) to provide even coverage and reduce hot spots; modeling showed less than 0.5 foot-candle at the north property line before tree screening. The board required a lighting specification and modeling as resolution-compliance, asked for full-cutoff fixtures, and requested a dimming/turnoff plan: applicant testimony said pole lights would be turned off at 8:00 p.m. with limited building lighting retained as needed for security; the board asked the applicant to propose a lighting plan for review by board professionals. - Security, gates and access: The site is large and has perimeter fencing and gated entrances; testimony described a staffed gate and on-site security presence (testimony indicated a guard shift that covers the morning hours). The applicant agreed to supply the board staff with documentation about current gate/security operations as part of resolution compliance. - Traffic and signage: The applicant’s traffic expert, Connor Hughes, estimated peak-hour trips of about 109 in the morning peak hour and 114 in the afternoon peak hour for the bus operation; the expert compared those trips to a prior industrial use and concluded the increase falls below a 100-peak-trip threshold that would typically trigger NJDOT-level review. The board’s traffic reviewer recommended a post-occupancy operational review (about six months after full occupancy) to confirm intersection operations at the site driveway and Monroe/North Eighth. The applicant agreed to work with board professionals on signage and truck-route enforcement and to coordinate with borough staff to replace worn truck-route signs near North Eighth and Monroe. The board and applicant discussed petitioning the borough governing body for any traffic control changes (for example a multi-way stop) if warranted by field counts.

Board vote and next steps The board approved the use variance and site plan by recorded roll call (motion by Mr. Ladadi; second by Mr. Mazzeo). The approval was conditioned on: compliance with the board engineer’s, planner’s and traffic reviewer’s outstanding items; interior-only maintenance and washing (no outside bodywork or painting; no on-site fueling); provision of oil/water separators or equivalent upstream treatment as recommended by the board engineer; a lighting plan and dimming/turnoff schedule to be reviewed by board professionals; verification of security/gate operations; cooperation on truck-route signage with borough staff; and a post-occupancy traffic assessment or other agreed follow-up to evaluate driveway/intersection functioning and to support any petition to the governing body for additional traffic controls. The applicant must submit final materials showing these compliance items for staff review before resolution compliance is signed off.

What the board did not decide The board did not require removal of existing pavement as part of the approval (engineer testimony said the site has been reviewed repeatedly and that further impervious reduction was likely not feasible for circulation reasons, although the applicant agreed to another look with board professionals). The wetlands LOI remained pending with the NJDEP and must be resolved through the regulatory process.

Ending note: the board’s planner and the applicant emphasized the narrow scope of the request – parking and maintenance limited to a portion of an existing industrial parcel – and framed the project as enabling student transportation. The applicant and operator committed to the indoor maintenance and handling procedures, additional stormwater safeguards if required, and working with borough staff on traffic signs and a post-occupancy review to address any operational issues that arise.