Are you aware that slightly south of Route 80 off of Howard Blvd, there exists the largest piece of unused land in Morris County?
It was not always unused land; formerly it was known as Hercules Ammunition Plant. A lot of the land has been tainted because of the nature of the ammunition and waste products that were buried in the soil. However, it was zoned through the Roxbury Master Plan in 2017 as an area in which office buildings and light development could be built. It further states that trucks and vans can only occupy 60% of the warehouse space.
Hartz Mountain Industrials, a company involved with building warehouses, brought their idea to the Morris County Commissioners to build 5 Warehouses on this property. The Commissioners appear to believe that because Howard Blvd is a County road they had the authority to make this decision to sell the property.
For 1.5 years this issue has been debated at Roxbury Planning Board meetings. Lots of arguments have ensued; the most powerful one in my opinion is that the Master Plan says that trucks and vans can only occupy 60% of the warehouse space. Hartz believes it needs 100% of the space and will seek a variance from the zoning board if the planning board does not agree. If Hartz Mountain cannot get their variance, they are threatening Roxbury with a very expensive lawsuit.
The next time you drive on Howard Blvd think about the specter of even more trucks and vans.
— Janet Vignola
At one meeting, I heard 1000 trips of vehicles per day.
The next meeting of the Roxbury Planning Board to discuss this issue is Wednesday, July 17, 2024. I hope you can join us. We will send another reminder about this meeting in July.
