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Morris Township board approves Delbarton School Student Life Center with height, slope and lighting conditions
Summary
The Morris Township board approved site‑plan and variance relief for Delbarton School’s proposed Student Life Center, allowing a multistory facility with gyms, natatorium and dining after the applicant agreed to conditions including dark‑sky lighting, landscaping and stormwater measures.
The Morris Township board on Nov. 25 approved a conditional use and variance package allowing Delbarton School to build a new Student Life Center on its Mendham Road campus.
The board granted D‑3 relief for building height and four‑story massing on the downhill side, and C‑variances for a 10‑foot retaining wall and steep‑slope disturbances tied to relocation of a campus circulation road. Counsel Martin Newmark told the board the project “will allow for the construction of a new 126,000 square foot student life center,” and project exhibits later showed an architect’s footprint of about 79,000 square feet.
Why it mattered: the project replaces an outdated gym and dining facility and adds spaces Delbarton says are necessary for student life, including two gymnasiums, squash courts, an Olympic‑sized pool, dining facilities and two levels of structured parking. The board and applicant emphasized the campus setting is remote from residences and separated by vegetation and grade from adjacent Lewis Morris Park.
Project details and conditions: project engineer Andrew Smith described a development area of roughly 6.2 acres with a net gain of about 75 parking spaces and two levels of structured parking beneath gym volumes. Smith and architect Steven Alluto said the proposed building’s ordinance‑calculated height is just under 45 feet and, in pedestrian terms, “the new building is ... 1 foot taller than the existing building, as it sits today.” The applicant agreed in writing to TCC, environmental commission and fire‑chief recommendations and told the board it will comply with dark‑sky lighting, the New Jersey ‘do not plant’ list for landscaping, and parking‑lot striping as requested by staff.
Operational and environmental safeguards: board members pressed the applicant on pool operations and potential discharges. Andrew Smith said any required emptying or discharge would be handled under an appropriate NJDEP clean water discharge permit; the board put environmental and permitting commitments into the approval conditions.
Board action and next steps: a motion to approve the application with the agreed conditions passed by roll call. The board asked counsel to prepare a memorializing resolution for the next meeting. The applicant was told to include the fire‑chief, environmental commission and TCC items as conditions and to obtain all necessary permits prior to construction.
What’s next: the board will circulate a written resolution memorializing the approvals and conditions; permits and final site‑plan revisions will follow as part of standard municipal review.
