The Four-Year Warehouse War in White
WHITE TOWNSHIP – The beauty of northwest New Jersey is that it doesn’t look like New Jersey.
It’s a largely unspoiled region of farms, small roads, dark nights and such iconic outposts as Hot Dog Johnny on Route 46.
Things do change, but to many, a massive warehouse plan in this small, Warren County town seems so inconsistent with the neighborhood, it’s time for action.
And residents have been involved and engaged for four years now.
At issue is a plan by Jaindl Farms and Land Development to build 2.8 million square feet of warehouse space on 600 acres near the Delaware River and off a road called Foul Rift. That’s quite the unappealing name and also a splendid symbol for how many view this proposal.
There may indeed be a market for such commercial development. Experts in the field point out that the popularity of online shopping has made it necessary to store merchandise in warehouses – as opposed to your local mall – for easy shipping to homebound customers.
Notwithstanding, by any objective look, this seems like a tough project to sell. Warehouses need to be near major highways and that certainly is not the case here. Interstates 78 to the south and 80 to the north are a good ride away. The prospect of massive trucks on the region’s small roads at all hours of the day is fueling the opposition.
Four years is a long time, and opponents certainly have used that time to organize.
They have coalesced into a group called Citizens for Sustained Development. Reach their website by going to savewarrencounty.org.
No subtlety here.
The color of the opposition is orange. It’s common to see a few hundred residents with orange T-shirts attending monthly planning board meetings. Protest rallies are generally held before the meetings.
That was the case Tuesday night when protesters waved signs of opposition outside the meeting place in a local school. One said something about keeping “White Township Green.”This was at the intersection of Route 46 and local road 519. Many motorists driving by honked their horns in support.
On this night, there was also music.
Guitarist Greg Stier performed a local version of Woody Guthrie’s classic, “This Land is Your Land.”
Here is one of the stanzas:
This land is our land / that we adore
Not right for Jaindl / and his warehouse eyesore
From five nineteen / to a major highway
These roads were made for you and me.
As we said, opponents have had four years to work on this – or ever since mid-2019.
That raises an obvious question. Why are things taking so long?
Major development projects always have lengthy approval processes, but still, four years – and counting?
At Tuesday’s meeting, Jaindl’s lawyer, Anthony Sposaro, a veteran land use attorney based in Chester, said residents were partly to blame.
He said that throughout the process, residents have spoken for too long at meetings and at times have asked repetitive questions. In fact, Sposaro said it’s time “to reel the public in.”
This wasn’t the best way to get resident support, but then again, the developer doesn’t need resident support. It needs support of the board, and if that fails, the courts.
A good part of the actual meeting was spent on stormwater and access issues.
Sposaro said the DEP has changed stormwater regulations and that Warren County officials have been uncooperative in working with the developer on access to the site. He said the county’s actions were possibly illegal. Talk about planting the seeds for litigation.
There was a belief prior to the meeting that the board would vote to reject the application that evening. In the back of the room, protesters held up signs that spelled out “Denial w/o Prejudice.”
That did not happen. The board said it will continue hearing the application at its September meeting when a new stormwater plan will be reviewed.
Interestingly, Sposaro had heard rumors about a rejection as well.
He tried to dispel them by channeling Mark Twain.
“The rumors of Jaindl’s demise are greatly exaggerated,” Sposaro said.
It is relevant, if not a bit ironic, to take a quick look at Jaindl Farms and Land Development.
Its website speaks of a family-owned company that began in 1933 as a small turkey farm in Allentown, Pa. and eventually expanded to land development.
“We care about doing right by our land,” the website says. “This means our turkey farming and land development processes are done ethically and with the soul of our farming heritage.”‘
Many of those wearing orange also care about heritage and “doing right” by the land.
That’s why this fight has gone on for four years.
Stop the warehouses this is the country and farmland not a big city with Hugh warehouses and buildings. We need to preserve our heritage and the life of living in the country. We don’t want any city influence here, please. Why do people want to disrupt our peaceful life here? If we wanted to live near warehouses are, we would not be living here!!! Stop this insane proposal the roads and towns can’t handle it!!!
No where in this article does it say the truth.
Like 1500 added trucks nite and day to route 519,
Which will turn into a four lane highway.
It’s a beautiful country road now. Not to mention
All the school bus stops on that road and the
Harmony elementary school. This warehouse is
10 miles in either direction to a highway. Makes
No sense. Our roads will be deteriorating quickly and
The lights from the warehouse will completely
ruin the country night sky and the rain run off
Which you did mention is disastrous. And let’s talk about Hope nj…forget about it…1500 trucks a day
Through that tiny historical town!
NO WAREHOUSES…..
The residents DON’T want it, so Planning Board please DO NOT FORCE IT DOWN THEIR THROATS.
Its not a area that should have large warehouses. Thus is the country. Open land beautiful views. There are so many abandoned warehouses and buildings all over the state. Why not Rehabilitation. Use what is already built. Not to mention if the state continues to allow more building and concrete the flooding issue will only increase. The animals that are our wildlife already have begun coming into peoples yards because the land where they can get food is being replaced with buildings.
Deer, Bears,Bob cats and mountain lions are showing up on our residential porches.
Stop the build. Keep White Township Green and rehab some if the abandoned buildings found all over the state.
Its not a area that should have large warehouses. Thus is the country. Open land beautiful views. There are so many abandoned warehouses and buildings all over the state. Why not Rehabilitation. Use what is already built. Not to mention if the state continues to allow more building and concrete the flooding issue will only increase. The animals that are our wildlife already have begun coming into peoples yards because the land where they can get food is being replaced with buildings.
Deer, Bears,Bob cats and mountain lions are showing up on our residential porches.
Stop the build. Keep White Township Green.
.
I applaud the folks who have been fighting the warehouse in White Township! It’s been a long fight against bad development that should never occur.
But it makes me wonder…why the news coverage for a warehouse on one site totaling 2.8m sf, when just a few miles away, in a tiny geographical area, there’ll by 15 mega-warehouses totaling nearly 9 m sf, and there’s no news coverage abut the negative impacts of this?
I’ve been attending Lopatcong council meetings for more than two years, and have witnessed the council denying plans for warehouses while at the same time actually planning them through the redevelopment process.
A disingenuous politician pretended to be concerned about the negative impact these warehouses have on the area during a photo-op with the NJDOT commissioner, yet his law firm represents a good number of warehouses in the area, and one of the lawyers in his firm advocates for warehouse development in the area on social media. Official documents indicate this politician actually submitted plans for a warehouse on prime farmland on behalf of his law firm partner, who is also proposing the Howard Street warehouse in Phillipsburg, that will send hundreds of trucks per day through tiny residential streets. This politician also has made pro-warehouse statements to the Phillipsburg council in support of his partner’s warehouse.
Has there been any news coverage regarding this? Yes! At a Lopatcong council meeting when they were voting for the redevelopment plan that would allow warehouses to be built on the Phillipsburg Mall property and the prime farmland behind it, the room was half-full of union representatives, mostly from out of the area, making pro-warehouse statements. One rep was from Bloomfield, another two from Columbia NJ. There was a “reporter” in the room who published a gushing article echoing the pro-warehouse statements of the out-of-town union reps and completely ignoring those who spoke against this development.
Shameful.