Great news for the Musky late today!!! From today’s Express-Times online (www.nj.com):
F. Greek Development withdrawing proposal for Franklin Township, Warren County, truck transfer station
By Stephen J. Novak
March 01, 2010, 3:14PM
Truck DepotView full sizeExpress-Times File Photo | BRUCE WINTERSome Franklin Township residents have voiced their objections since October to a proposed truck depot. The developer said today it is withdrawing its application for economic reasons.The developer is withdrawing an application for a controversial truck transfer station that was proposed near Interstate 78 in Franklin Township, Warren County, according to a letter received today by the township.
“Unfortunately, given the current economic climate, the uncertainty of the pace of the economic recovery and the factors discussed (in the letter), the project simply does not make financial sense at the present time,” said the correspondence from F. Greek Development, based in East Brunswick, N.J.
The request to withdraw comes just two days before the second scheduled hearing before the Franklin Township Land Use Board. The first hearing took place in the township elementary school to try to accommodate the 300-plus residents and interested parties who attended.
Individuals and the opposition group Skylands Preservation Alliance began attending land use board meetings in October to voice displeasure with the proposal, before the application was even complete. The developer said in the letter the opposition did not play a role in its decision to withdraw.
“We are confident that the project would be a substantial asset to the township and would have warranted the grant of an approval by the land use board,” the letter said. “We are equally confident that we would have been successful in any litigation brought by objectors challenging an approval.”
The letter listed several costs associated with the project, including an “unanticipated” $1 million cost to upgrade electrical services to the site, and an additional cost for extending a gas pipeline to serve the property, as well as other various uncertainties.
The project would have put 1.4 million square feet of warehouse and office space on a 191-acre site off Bloomsbury Road, near I-78, if it had been approved. It also was anticipated to create more than 600 jobs.
“It never got to go through the whole process,” said Franklin Township Mayor Mark Blaszka. “This would have been a nice application to see what’s viable and what’s not.”
