Viridian presents redevelopment plan

[news]

Viridian presents redevelopment plan

By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008 12:06 PM EST

CRANBURY — Viridian unveiled plans to redevelop a contaminated piece of property on Brickyard Road, Feb. 7.

The Colorado-based company bought the 395-acre parcel in Cranbury’s industrial district in January 2006 and is investing more than $100 million to redevelop the property.

Complicating the redevelopment plan is that explosive and volatile debris were scattered throughout the site in 1954, when a former munitions plant, Unexcelled, exploded. The company is in the midst of remediating the leftover explosives in the area.

Viridian’s proposal calls for the construction of three warehouses — one approximately 1.12 million square feet, one approximately 1.13 million square feet and another 538,000 square feet — at the northeast corner of Route 130 and Brickyard Road.

The company is using the placement of the three warehouses to hard cap the area of the property that has the highest concentration of munitions and explosives concerns or MEC.
...
http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2008/02/15/cranbury_press/news/doc47b5c49b331d5337847979.prt

[Guest]

anybody knows any impacts to cranbury residents? my concern is it may significantly increase affordable housing liability to the township.

[Guest]

I see a couple of things.

1) On the postive we add an additional rateable.

2) On the negative there will be an increase in the affordable housing obligation. Under the pending rules this may mean Cranbury will have to build further housing units within the town. Couple this and the potential truck stop and the housing obligations for the town if the legislation is passed could be substantial for a small town like Cranbury. The town should be looking to reduce developments that will incur housing obligations. In fact it might be cheaper for the town to purchase additional land than the long term effects that new growth brings in terms of any type of housing.

3) The one thing no one seems to be concerned about is the safety of the emergency services. If Viridian wants to set up a building on grounds with ammunition and can find someone who will put their employees in there then it is there issue. If there is a fire in the building then the Cranbury Volunteers are at risk. Given that even the Viridian ammunitions expert said you cannot be 100% sure the ammunitions are gone, I question the safety of this project. I know I would not want to step into a building that is on fire on that property.

[gpoint]

Good point about the safety for fire fighters.

But I don't understand why Cranbury has to increase affordable housing units when new commercial warehouses are built?

[Guest]

It would seem that a fire in a building on the property would not pose a high risk as far as the munitions go, as they would be under the concrete floor. At this time however, as there are no hydrants in the area, the fire co. depends on tankers for a water supply out there. Hopefully they will absorb the cost of running city water and hydrants to the area.

[Guest]

An affordable housing obligation is incurred whenever new jobs are added. So if a Warehouse is built then there is a new employer with a new jobs staffing the warehouse. This means that in today's obligation for every 30 jobs created an affordable housing unit needs to be built. If they have 100 employees, then there are 3 new affordable housing units being required to be built. Even with just 30 people, there is one more obligation required. If the legislation in the state passes, then we'll be in a position of not being able to pay another town like South Amboy to take the obligation. I don't believe the long term affects of say 3 new houses is worth the rateables that a warehouse brings in.

In terms of concrete floors, while the munitions are sealed there are several devices that could be set off with heat. Heat can pass through a concrete floor so there is a possible issue remaining . In addition, the exterior of the building is not concrete so the heat transfer around the buildings immediate exterior could cause issues with unexploded ordinances.

IMO, this is a clear example of corporate greed of revenue over safety for employees or town.