West Windsor Planning Board on Fairness and Transparency, by John Mulcahy

     Following the Bridge Point 8 Application hearings over the past few weeks, I am struck by the incredible lack of transparency and fairness on display. The West Windsor Planning Board held my family to a much higher standard than the behemoth Atlantic Realty, the applicant for the Bridge Point 8 Industrial "Park" project. The  Planning Board proceedings have  effectively withheld material information from the public and stifled the voices of community residents, while being so accommodating to big business, that one wonders if common sense guidelines even matter when money talks in this town. 

     I know these are strong statements. Let me explain, starting with a story about our experience with the West Windsor Planning Board. My wife and I have raised our three kids in West Windsor over the past 20+ years. Our youngest child, Marina, was born in 2003 with a partial chromosome deletion and, as a result, she has extraordinary special needs. Marina, our beautiful and courageous little girl, is non-ambulatory and has many additional and significant physical, developmental and cognitive disabilities. She is also among the most fragile of the medically needy population.

      By 2014, as Marina was getting bigger it was becoming more and more difficult to carry her up and down the stairs for bed each night, and even more challenging getting her in and out of the bath tub. At the same time her medical needs were increasing, and it became clear to us that our home was no longer able to accommodate her wheelchair, gait trainer, feeding pump and IV pole, as well as all the other medical equipment she needs. We had a choice to make; we could either move or renovate our home. The choice was relatively easy. We love our home, our neighborhood and our community, so we decided to renovate, adding 500 sq feet to accommodate a proper 1st floor bedroom and special needs bathroom, along with a deck and ramp for easy entry and exit.

     In late 2014, we embarked on the variance approval process for a special needs’ renovation for our home, and this application required substantial time, energy and paperwork for us to demonstrate to the township, and neighborhood, that our project would not negatively impact the fabric and character of the community. Among many other requirements, we had to take pictures of every home within 500 feet of our property. In addition, we had to send, via certified mail, the details of the renovation project, along with the date and time that the application would be discussed at the Planning Board meetings, to all neighbors within 200 feet of our property. Notification by certified mail was required as posting on the township website was not deemed sufficient. And for good measure, we also had to send those green certified mail ‘stubs’ (for each letter) to the township as evidence that we complied with variance application requirement.

     As you can imagine, our project had absolutely no negative impact on the community, as we simply improved our house so we could continue to raise our family in our home. All went well enough with the Planning Board and the application was approved.  All sounds good so what’s the issue, right? Reflecting on our application, I support the idea of informing the surrounding community and ensuring they have a voice - even though it was difficult for us as we were also managing work, school schedules extra-curricular activities, and Marina’s care, not to mention ongoing battles with the health insurance company.

     Clearly and especially with such a large and impactful project, the planning board should ensure a level playing field, so where a proposed project that has a material impact well beyond its property line, there is a much greater responsibility for the applicant as well as our township officials to ensure that the community is appropriately notified and engaged so the fabric and character of our town is protected, as is expected of local residents. It is especially true in the case of Bridge Point 8, considering that a project of that scale, adding hundreds of tractor trailers PER HOUR barreling down our local roads every day and every night is sure to have a dramatic, devastating and destructive impact on the entire community! Where was my certified letter? Why wasn't I given the same consideration afforded to my neighbors for so very much less? 

     What needs to be done now? In my view, there are 2 key actions:

1) The Planning Board must postpone the scheduled June 29 th vote on the Bridge Point 8 application and re-open the hearings, affording residents the opportunity to cross-examine the applicant and voice concerns. 

2) The Planning Board must ensure appropriate transparency and fairness for the West Windsor community. They can accomplish this by requiring the applicant to provide timely notification (via certified mail) regarding the project scope, scale and impact, to every resident and neighboring community that will be impacted by the dramatic, dangerous and toxic traffic increase on Clarksville Road, Rte 1, Village Road and beyond. 
     The notification should also provide new dates for public hearings, with ample notice, so all impacted residents of the community are invited to participate fully.  Unfair for the applicant? I do not think so. We are basically holding the Planning Board and the  applicant to the same requirements that we faced when we had to send Marina’s letter. Will this be easy? Maybe not, given the scope and scale of the project, the applicant would need to send letters via certified mail to the entire West Windsor community. Will it take time? Yes, it will, but so be it. It is much more important to get this right because we will all be living with the consequences for decades to come, if we haven't left town.

     Let’s move the Bridge Point 8 deliberations out of the shadows and inform the people so they can have their say! Then our township officials must listen to and consider the voice of the people!

    For fairness and transparency, either do it right,  or put the project up for a referendum on the ballot. Power to the people, not a small handful of mistake prone board members, currently mismanaging the largest warehouse project in all of New Jersey. 

This author urges you to donate to the cause here:  https://gofund.me/ddce52df

Donations will be used to fund the legal fight against this behemoth industrial complex that will forever change the fabric of our town. 

We urge you to sign the petition and stay in touch with the movement to preserve and protect our land, commerce and community here: https://stopthetrucks.info/

We absolutely  cannot win the fight without you.  

John Mulcahy, West Windsor Resident

June 17, 2022