Farm-to-warehouse movement hits Mansfield

On Tuesday, residents of Trenton will be going to the polls to vote for their new mayor. Unless something shocking happens, no candidate will receive 50 percent of the vote and we’ll have a runoff on June 12.

One way or another, change is coming to Trenton. I’ll have plenty to say about it come Wednesday.

But there’s something else happening on Tuesday in our coverage area that, if not equal in import to the Trenton election, has plenty of locals talking. After all, how many other planning board meetings have you heard of that need to be held in a high school auditorium due to the amount of people expected to attend?

The Mansfield planning board will be meeting at Northern Burlington Regional High School to vote upon a relatively straightforward matter: Approving a 1.78 million squarefoot distribution center on vacant farmland.

How big is 1.78 million square feet? I have no earthly idea. A giant Costco, for comparison, is about 150,000 square feet. So it ain’t small.

But how we get here in New Jersey, how this particular sausage gets made, is pretty foul.

I was contacted by someone who is A) going to be affected by this, B) has more or less come to terms with it, and C) has been acutely and actively following the process over the last decade.

And it’s the process that stinks.

“It’s not the fault of the developers, it’s not the fault of the township, but the system is rigged against the residents,” I was told. “They don’t find out about this stuff until it’s too late.”

Basically, a mammoth warehouse could be coming to town, and the only people who need to be notified before the planning board votes are people within 200 feet of the property line. And they don’t need to be notified until 10 days before the vote.

Good luck mobilizing, residents.

“The developer develops the plans, the DEP signs off, the township gets the plans, the planning board gets the plans, all this stuff goes back and forth,” he said. “This takes years. No one knows about it. And you’re living next to a forest, and then you get a certified letter telling you the board will be voting on a project in 8 days that will turn the forest into a warehouse and bring your property value down to about zero.”

This particular project — which concerns a parcel of land on Florence-Columbus and Jacksonville-Hedding Roads — was passed way back in 2009, but it’s only now the rubber is meeting the road.

In an effort to stop (or change) the project, a civic group, Northern Burlington Cares (NBCares.org) has sprung up and made just about everyone in the area aware of what’s going on.

And what’s going on is this: According to the plan as it stands, 18-wheelers will be coming off I-295 at exit 52 onto Florence-Columbus Road, then make a left onto Jacksonville-Hedding Road — a true “country road,” you may as well be in the middle of Kansas — pass a few farms, go over a Turnpike bridge, and make a hard left into the warehouse area.

At minimum, residents and concerned parties want the developer to build a bridge between the mostly landlocked parcels, which would then eliminate the need for the trip down the two roads. Trucks would be able to get off 295 and immediately get into the warehouse area.

“As it stands now, the plan is certainly affecting people outside the 200 feet,” my source said.

Commerce marches on. Towns are starved for ratables. These things happen, and will continue to happen. The way they happen, though, needs to be more transparent from the jump. And if you don’t think so, you certainly would should you ever a get one of these letters.