NAN Realty Holdings, LLC presented its application to build an 85,140-square-foot, three story climate-controlled self-storage facility with a basement at 360 Milltown Road before the Township Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The applicant’s attorney, Michael Silbert, said the applicant is seeking a D1 use variance because self-storage is not a permitted use in the zone.
He also said the application includes a C variance tied to the number of stories because the ordinance counts the basement as a story, making the project four stories, where three are permitted.
Silbert said the applicant is also seeking a D4 variance for floor area ratio. He said the zone permits a 30 percent floor area ratio and the application seeks 36.6 percent.
Additional requests needed were connected to landscaping, signage, loading and setbacks.
Silbert said foundation plantings would require 368 shrubs, and 42 are proposed. He also said 12 street trees are required along Milltown Road, and 10 are proposed, while 69 trees are required for disturbed area plantings and 18 are proposed.
For parking lot trees, Silbert said seven are required and seven are being provided. He also said parking and loading in the minimum front yard setback is not permitted, while 100 feet is required for the front yard setback, and 93.1 feet is proposed.
Silbert said loading space dimensions of 12 feet by 50 feet are required, and the application proposes two additional loading spaces measuring 12 feet by 38 feet.
The application also seeks relief for signage. Silbert said one freestanding sign exists, and a second is proposed at another ingress-egress point, where one sign is permitted. He also said a minimum 10-foot sign setback is required, and the proposed distance is believed to be about 7 feet.
Applicant engineer Robert Moschello described the surrounding site and existing development.
He said the property is bordered on the west by North Branch Park, on the east by the Conrail rail line. He added that the active rail line separates the site from residential properties on that side.
The storage facility is being proposed on the same lot where an existing building stands at 17,717 square feet.
That building plan was approved in 2021 and did not include increasing the building size. The work focused on modernizing the exterior and renovating the interior for research and laboratory use to attract a tenant now identified as Avnos.
This is the third self-storage facility to be proposed in Bridgewater. In June 2024, the Zoning Board approved an application for Chimney Rock Self Storage to raze the existing office building between Donahue Avenue and Route 22 to construct a three-story 129,000-square-foot self-storage building with 876 units on the 3.44-acre site.
Another application is still being heard before the Zoning Board proposing to build a self-storage facility, which would replace Melick’s farm stand and the long-vacant Tectonic building.
The application hearing will be continued at the June 9 zoning board meeting at 7 p.m.
The Bridgewater Zoning Board of Adjustment are held in person at the Bridgewater Township Municipal Building at 100 Commons Way, Bridgewater, and streamed live on the Bridgewater Township YouTube channel, which can be viewed by clicking on the video stream labeled “Bridgewater Zoning Board” at @BridgewaterNewJersey.
