Developer seeks industrial outdoor-storage use at 945 Route 27; zoning board asks for stronger screening and tenant controls and carries decision

JD & iOS asked the Franklin Township Zoning Board on Jan. 8 to allow an industrial outdoor-storage facility at 945 Route 27, a 5.21-acre triangular parcel that previously operated as a concrete plant and later was approved for bus storage.

Simone Cali of Cali Law LLC, counsel for the applicant, told the board the application seeks a D1 use variance, preliminary and final major site-plan approval and several bulk variances to repurpose the site for outdoor storage and limited office/maintenance uses. "We are here tonight seeking site plan approval, use, and bulk variance relief to modify and expand the existing outdoor storage use," Cali said.

John Gribbs, vice president of JD & iOS, described the operator as a national owner-manager of similar yards and testified the company would screen tenants, avoid storing hazardous combustibles in bulk and maintain on-site security: "We would never have hazardous materials, combustibles on-site," Gribbs said, adding the firm installs fencing and cameras and performs regular site visits. He said the applicant had no tenant signed at the time of the hearing and that tenancy could be either a single user or up to a few users depending on demand.

Engineer Jeffrey Haberman presented site exhibits and said the proposal would repair and modernize a site that is currently dilapidated in places: paving compacted gravel, adding striping and circulation aisles, installing LED lighting, adding screening and a gated entrance, and removing stockpiles that impede drainage. Haberman said the applicant proposes a net reduction in impervious coverage from 78.6% to about 74.5% and has submitted or will submit state applications for wetland buffer disturbances as needed. He described a planned inlet to reconnect an undersized storm pipe and said the applicant will provide pipe-sizing calculations and grading details to the board engineer.

Traffic engineer Craig Peregoy summarized counts from comparable JD & iOS sites and his analysis of Route 27 access. Using conservative, worst-case assumptions, Peregoy concluded the yard would be a low traffic generator and would not push the roadway over common DOT thresholds for further review. He cautioned that frequent tractor-trailer terminal activity would not be compatible with the driveway geometry; the applicant and witnesses repeatedly disavowed truck-terminal operations.

Planner Paul Ricci told the board the site is well suited for the outdoor-storage use because it adjoins other industrial/commercial uses, has limited visibility from public viewpoints, and would improve site conditions left unbuilt after a prior approval. Ricci recommended conditions -- including material stacking limits, screening, and tenancy-change review -- to mitigate negative impacts.

Board members supported the concept's potential benefit (for example, providing space for landscapers and contractors now operating in residential areas) but flagged unresolved details: where and how 8-foot stacking limits and loose materials (mulch, soil) would be contained, whether perimeter screening should be continuous or targeted, how the board would enforce long-term site maintenance, emergency-access stripe/fire-lane design, and removal of any pavement encroaching on the Family Dollar lot. The planning director and applicant discussed limiting outdoor-storage materials that could blow or wash off-site and using the township's outdoor-storage ordinance performance standards as the enforcement baseline.

The applicant offered to revise the site plan and provide clarified tenant controls and screening designs. The board carried the application to its Feb. 5 meeting and verbally granted an extension of time for board action so the applicant can return with revised exhibits and professionals' responses. The board indicated it will consider conditions such as periodic inspections, tenancy-change permit review, specific screening and security improvements, and clear limits on permitted stored materials.

What’s next: The board will revisit the revised plans on Feb. 5; any approval would likely be subject to written conditions addressing screening, inspection frequency, containment methods for loose materials, emergency access and limits on tractor-trailer terminal uses.