The Harrison Township Committee Meeting on April 3 focused on the consideration of a new resolution that proposes a redevelopment agreement with the owner of the Tomlin Station Commerce Center.
The owner of the center – an area of light industrial and commercial building lots for sale – has requested an agreement for months, according to Mullica Hill Mayor Louis Manzo.
“The history of that site is that it was zoned to allow warehousing there since the early 1960s and was under contract to a warehouse developer late last year,” Manzo explained. “That developer abandoned the project in December, when the township refused to lower the requirements and standards of the plan.
“The owner of the property has been seeking a redevelopment agreement to help market his land to potential developers (warehouse or non-warehouse) and illustrate the township’s support to his bank,” the mayor added.
Mullica Hill residents in December voiced issues with the potential building of large warehouses by North Jersey-based Russo Development LLC out of concerns about pollution, loud noise and increased traffic. The proposed development area is at the township’s border with Woolwich.
“There hasn’t been any updated traffic or studies on environmental impacts from trucks,” said resident Clint Guest. “It’s a 24/7 operation that has no limitations on what can be in there, and the place will be phenomenal in size. I’m disappointed that local officials haven’t done any studies into this, at least to my knowledge.”
Coverage of the potential redevelopment in local media resulted in the Joint Land Use Board rejecting the project after hundreds showed up at a December meeting to plead with the board. The new resolution confused some residents at the April committee meeting, including that it would make changes to the zoning of the area, which sits at the intersection of Tomlin Road and Route 322.
“The questions that residents asked indicated that they were not clear what the resolution involved, believing that it changed zoning or removed deed restrictions that exist there,” Manzo noted. “It does not. That said, we tabled the resolution until the next meeting to allow any other questions to emerge.”
The lots in question consist of anywhere from three to about four-and-a-half acres, according to Swope Lees Commercial Real Estate.
A committee business meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Harrison Township municipal building.
