Wonder Foods hearing continued after residents raise noise, traffic and gas‑tank safety concerns

The Cranford Planning Board continued Wonder Group Inc.’s amended site‑plan application to Oct. 8, 2025, after residents raised concerns about noise, truck traffic, early refuse pickups and planned on‑site carbon‑dioxide and nitrogen tanks used for modified‑atmosphere packaging (MAP).

Wonder attorney Stephen Hale and company representative Jason Butcher told the board the company has established a dedicated support email, cranfordsupport@wonder.com, and plans to install additional cameras and decibel monitors along the Burwood Drive property line and the Linden border. Butcher said the company will monitor that email and several staff members will have access. “There will be numerous people that will have access and we'll be monitoring that email, myself included,” he said.

Neighbors told the board they continue to hear truck horns and early‑morning pickup activity and asked for clearer hours and a direct way to report problems. Resident Maria Seakac of 131 Burwood Drive told the board the operations have become disruptive: “It used to just be a building; it was quiet. Now there’s 130 cars parked at one time. Car radios, horns blaring, garbage trucks, refrigeration units and refuse containers next to our homes,” she said. Other speakers described a recurring 7 a.m. refuse pickup that they said woke residents.

On safety, the board reviewed an exchange between township fire officials and the applicant confirming that the proposed MAP gases would be delivered and stored as cryogenic liquids and would be regulated under the New Jersey Fire Code (chapter referenced by the fire official). Wonder’s attorney said the gases are non‑flammable and would be stored in protected outdoor tanks, enclosed behind an 8‑foot chain link fence with bollards and installed in compliance with applicable fire‑safety rules. Counsel acknowledged the primary risk for CO2 or nitrogen would be oxygen displacement in an enclosed area and said the applicant intends outdoor placement to allow rapid dispersion.

Wonder also reported operational steps intended to reduce truck trips, including replacing multiple small deliveries with fewer bulk deliveries to the proposed on‑site tanks. The company said compactors will replace numerous roll‑off dumpsters and that long‑term plan details (locations and sizes for trailers, tanks and the refuse enclosure) will be provided in forthcoming exhibits and by retained experts.

Several residents asked for additional, specific mitigation: an easily discoverable letter to the mailed 200‑foot list identifying the support email and hours of operation; decibel data and noise modeling shared with neighbors; and a maintenance/containment plan for compactors so any spills do not enter storm drains. The board asked Wonder to include those materials and to present expert noise and civil engineering evidence at the continued hearing.

The board continued the matter to Oct. 8, 2025, and noted that the applicant and board professionals will submit additional materials (noise study, civil/engineering revisions and clarifying exhibits) before that date. The board recorded the continuation and a prior time‑extension to Dec. 31, 2025, for completeness.

If Wonder files the agreed materials, the board will reopen the hearing on Oct. 8 for expert testimony, additional public comment and deliberation.