Bedminster board approves variances allowing New Jersey American Water to keep treatment trailer and existing tank through 2033

The Bedminster Township Land Use Board voted Jan. 10 to grant New Jersey American Water the zoning relief needed to retain a temporary chemical-treatment trailer beside an existing 1,000,000-gallon water storage tank at Hamilton Farms Golf Club and to allow the tank and trailer to remain in service while the utility builds a permanent replacement.

Attorney Neil O'Brien, representing New Jersey American Water Company, told the board the tank—originally approved and constructed around 1980—serves roughly 2,600 customers in the Bedminster and Pac Gladstone area. "We're going to ask this evening that you allow us to keep the tank on the property until 2033," O'Brien said, describing the request as authorization to maintain an existing nonconforming use and to ratify temporary approvals the governing body previously issued.

The request centered on two items: zoning relief in the R10 district for the continued presence of a public-utility treatment trailer (a D2, or expansion of an existing nonconforming use) and a bulk/setback variance for the trailer's location within the property's lease area. Planner James Kyle told the board the application met the positive and negative criteria required for D2 and bulk relief, noting the site's isolation, heavy tree cover and long-standing utility function. "This facility is absolutely necessary to maintain the safe drinking water supply," Kyle said, arguing the proposed ratification would not substantially impair the intent of the township's zoning.

Engineer Caroline Zki described the trailer's on-site role and operational safeguards. She said the trailer performs booster chloramination to maintain a disinfectant residual as water travels from the Rar and Milstone treatment plant into the distribution system. Zki said the tank holds about 1,000,000 gallons and that the system's average monthly flow through the tank is about 22 million gallons (roughly 0.7 million gallons per day). She described the chemical storage and handling currently in use: a 12.5% sodium hypochlorite solution (a bleach product) and a 40% ammonium sulfate product; daily site visits are limited (the site is unmanned except for periodic utility checks), and delivery methods described in testimony included small five-gallon containers used for daily top-offs and larger drums on site.

On safety and visibility, Zki said the trailer is largely hidden in a wooded easement and not visible from most neighboring properties; she told the board the tank's shortest distance to a property line is about 33.5 feet while the trailer sits about 87 feet from the nearest property line. She also said the trailer and treatment process previously received appropriate approvals in 2020 and that the company intends to replace the temporary trailer and the tank with permanent facilities and a masonry building to house treatment equipment. Project planning and design were described as likely to start around 2030, with construction and a formal replacement targeted by about 2033.

Following testimony and questions, the board moved and seconded a motion to grant the requested D and C variances plus preliminary and final site-plan relief for the trailer, subject to standard conditions and compliance with staff-review reports. The board's roll-call responses recorded affirmative votes by the members present; the motion carried and the board instructed staff to memorialize a resolution for the grant.

The board also asked staff to confirm whether this portion of the system is fluoridated and to report back; testimony stated staff would check with the water company. The board's approval applies to the trailer and associated site plan as described at the hearing; New Jersey American Water is expected to return for separate approvals when it submits formal designs for the replacement tank and permanent treatment building.

Next steps: the board's approval will be memorialized in a written resolution and recorded in the case files. The utility indicated it will pursue design and permitting for a replacement tank and a small masonry building to replace the trailer; timing supplied in testimony anticipated further board reviews around 2030–2033 for those construction approvals.