Planning Board takes up Ford Redevelopment plan
Board could send plan to council in July for approval
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer

EDISON - The plan for the plant is in the hands of the Planning Board.

The Ford Assembly Plant Redevelopment plan was presented to the Planning Board on Tuesday evening, laying out guidelines for what the long-anticipated Towne Center property may look like.

The Planning Board is required to endorse the plan before sending it to the Township Council for approval and implementation. The board heard from representatives of Clarke Caton Hintz, the architectural firm that drew up the plan, and Hartz Mountain Inc., the developer expected to turn the formerly contaminated 97 acres into a retail/business lifestyle center.

William North-grave, an attorney representing Clarke Caton Hintz, described the purpose of the plan and explicitly said that no one was bound by law to build anything if approved.

"This is not an approval to build anything included in the plan," said Northgrave.

John Clarke, of Clarke Caton Hintz, said the plan in front of the Planning Board was "analogous to proposing zoning for the site."

Clarke presented to the board the possible uses of the site under the redevelopment plan and asked for their comment and approval of the plan in order to keep the process moving.

The plan stipulates that the New Jersey Department of Transportation may require improved access from Route 1 and Vineyard Road to the site and that any application must include 7.5 acres of preserved open space in the northwestern corner of the site adjacent to Paterniti Park, which lies just outside the redevelopment zone.

The plan requires that a mixed-use commercial/retail application be built on the site and prohibits the inclusion of residential units on the property.

The plan allows for two "big box" stores but limits them to 185,000 square feet each. The possibility of a hotel structure amid the smaller retail shops that would encompass the "town center" portion of any application is also a permitted use.

The developer, Hartz Mountain, has expressed the desire to build a pedestrian-friendly shopping center that would serve as a downtown-like area that Edison currently lacks. The plan jibes with what Hartz Mountain has said they would like to build on the property.

Representatives from Hartz Mountain were on hand to answer questions about the status of the contamination cleanup.

Walter Smith, executive vice president for Hartz Mountain, said two-thirds of the property has been cleaned up completely and signed off by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and that paperwork for the final third has been submitted to the DEP for approval.

"This will be the cleanest industrial remediated site in the state, no question," Smith said.

Hartz Mountain is seeking a cleanliness classification equal to that given to residential properties.

Some permitted uses for the property include various retail shops, supermarkets, movie theaters, health and fitness clubs, and restaurants and eateries.

The plan allows gas stations, drive-up windows and cell towers under certain conditions. In the case of a cell tower, it must be "screened from view or camouflaged within an enclosed structure." Car dealerships, adult stores and warehouse facilities are among the prohibited uses.

Clarke said the plan includes parking calculations that are different from the township's standard parking model. He said the plan utilized parking calculations from the Urban Land Institute that uses a practice known as "shared parking," where daytime and nighttime uses would share the parking.

Clarke said an office building could share parking with the movie theater, for instance, because they would utilized the parking spaces at different times - the office on weekdays, the movie theater mostly nights and weekends.

In a letter to the Planning Board outlining certain concerns he had with the redevelopment plan, Henry Bignell of Sheehan and Bignell Planning Consultants said the plan demonstrates an unclear standard for parking and recommends that the board establish its own parking standard for the project.

The meeting came to an abrupt end without a resolution and was postponed until Monday, July 30, so that the Planning Board and the public could have more time to review Bignell's memorandum outlining his concerns with the plan.

The results of that meeting were not available at press time.