Did BridgePoint Jump the Gun? DEP asked to investigate

The WaterShed Institute (TWI) accused BridgePoint of clearing land for their warehouse project before receiving needed permits from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in a public comment filing on April 18. If BridgePoint is found to have broken the law by clearing the land without a permit, the DEP would be authorized to penalize BridgePoint. TWI is asking the DEP to penalize BridgePoint by denying the permit, effectively ending the project.

TWI submitted the comments during the public comment period that DEP held as they consider BridgePoint’s updated application for a Flood Hazard Area Individual permit. That permit, which had been granted to BridgePoint on December 2, 2022, was vacated by the NJ Superior Court on December 27, 2024.

BridgePoint’s warehouse project is to build a 7 warehouse complex totaling 5.5mln square feet in two phases across from the Quakerbridge Mall on the land bounded on the west side by Quakerbridge Road and on the north side by Route 1. The project was approved by the West Windsor Planning board in June 2022.

TWI’s public comments included a report by Princeton Hydro, a Trenton based company that consults on stormwater management among other topics. Princeton Hydro’s report included pictures from Google Earth of the project site.

The picture from April 5, 2021 (below) shows the site before any clearance work had begun. The picture from June 6, 2022 (at the top of the article) shows that work had been done on the site including on a drainage channel. Since the permit was not granted until December 2, 2022, TWI is alleging that work was done before the permit was granted.