The Parsippany (Troy Hills) Planning Board approved application 24:526 on Nov. 18, 2024, allowing Murata Controls to add a covered loading dock, a chiller pad and related site improvements at 20 Waterview Boulevard. The board granted C‑variance relief and preliminary and final major site-plan approval with conditions after testimony from company representatives and three expert witnesses.

John Inglesino, counsel for the applicant, told the board Murata Controls seeks the work to support its power and actuation systems group and to improve logistics at the company’s corporate headquarters on the property. Company representative Thomas Murata, sworn in for testimony, said the expansion will support “80 plus people in the first year” as the employer relocates operations to the Parsippany site.

Bradford Bowler of Boehler Engineering described the civil changes: a proposed non-enclosed covered loading dock on the east side of the building, two retaining walls, a concrete pad for a chiller, a proposed ADA sidewalk connection to the Whole Foods sidewalk, and minor circulation changes that remove nine parking stalls (807 parking spaces will remain on site). Bowler testified the project increases impervious cover by about 5,700 square feet, which represents a de minimis 0.13 percentage-point increase for the tract, and that the applicant will install a dry well and other stormwater measures to meet town code.

Architect William Kimmerle testified the loading-dock cover is an approximately 12-foot-high, open-sided structure that matches an earlier 2018 cosmetic scheme. He testified three new chillers will generate about 62 decibels each; his firm’s attenuation calculations estimate roughly 42 decibels at the rear property line, a level the architect said complies with local daytime and nighttime noise standards. “At the property line…that is approximately the noise generated by a domestic refrigerator,” Kimmerle said.

Planner Alexander McLean summarized the variance proofs: C2 relief was requested for minimum lot area, maximum impervious coverage and minimum loading-zone dimensions (the loading area is about 5 feet short of the code dimension). McLean argued the operational benefits and the project’s small physical increase in impervious area satisfy the positive and negative criteria for relief, and he cited the township’s 2020 master plan and the inclusion of 16 EV stalls as supporting the public interest.

Before voting, the board’s engineer and planner confirmed conditions the applicant agreed to: design and install a dry well consistent with the borough’s stormwater code, revise lighting for dark‑sky compliance, comply with the board engineer’s review letter, shift the fence back from the top of a proposed retaining wall to avoid an over-height condition, and evaluate moving the designated ADA EV spaces closer to the main entrance. A motion to approve the application, with those conditions, passed on the board’s roll call.

The approval allows Murata Controls to proceed with finalized construction documents and with coordination required by the board engineer; the company will make identified lighting and fencing revisions and implement the specified stormwater measures. The board recorded the conditions on the approval and closed the evidentiary portion of the hearing.