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Planning board grants consolidated lot approval and D‑2 variance for fabrication/storage site on Black Horse Pike with strict conditions
Summary
After weeks of testimony and more than a dozen residents speaking, the board approved a consolidated major site plan and D‑2 variance for a fabrication/storage business on Black Horse Pike, subject to binding conditions: fabrication limited to the existing building, no outdoor storage on a designated wooded rear parcel, lighting controls, Phase I/II environmental reports and other mitigation.
The Planning Board voted to approve a consolidated lot plan and D‑2 variance that extends a preexisting machine‑shop/fabrication use across multiple parcels on Black Horse Pike, while imposing multiple conditions in response to sustained public opposition. Applicant counsel and project engineers described site reconfiguration to shift truck staging off the highway (using a site driveway and an existing adjacent commercial parcel for staging), add three storage buildings and keep active fabrication to the existing ‘‘mother’’ shop.
Neighbors raised multiple concerns at the hearing: nighttime truck activity, idling, bright high‑pole lighting, dumpster and trash operations, prior tree clearing and potential historical contaminants on the property. Residents presented a signed petition and sought enforceable restrictions. In response the applicant and consultants agreed on the record to a package of enforceable conditions: fabrication activities remain confined to the existing Lot 20 building; no fabrication in the new storage buildings; the unimproved 300x300‑foot wooded rear area along Herbert Boulevard will remain unimproved with no trailer or material storage and no access from Herbert; pole lights will be full‑cutoff fixtures on timers and paired with motion sensors; electric forklifts will be used where practicable; trash pickup and truck loading/unloading will be restricted to posted business hours (generally 07:00–17:00 weekdays), and the applicant will deliver Phase I and Phase II environmental reports to the township engineer and accept any further remediation or reporting obligations if the reports identify impacts.
Planner and engineering reviews noted several required waivers (lighting pole height, loading space layout, curbing) but concluded the revised design reduced highway driveway pressure and provided buffer measures. The board’s resolution records that approvals are expressly conditioned on the applicant filing the required environmental reports, providing final isolex lighting plans and photometrics, adding the agreed evergreen buffer and a landscape plan, and incorporating deed‑level restrictions where necessary. Violation of any condition will be subject to enforcement by the township’s zoning officer and possible revocation or modification of approvals.
