Self-storage developer Central Jersey Storage LLC has received preliminary site approval to build a facility in Millstone Township, N.J. The zoning board of adjustment voted 5-2 last month to grant a use variance and a bulk variance. The project will be developed on County Route 537, west of Interstate 195. As proposed, it’ll comprise 72,844 square feet split between a single two-story building and five single-story structures, according to the source.

Central Jersey hasn’t sought final site approval yet in case further adjustments are needed in response to neighborhood opposition. The building site borders homes on Pine Drive, and residents expressed concerns about lighting, noise and security during a March meeting, the source reported. To mitigate opposition, Central Jersey has already reduced the overall size of the facility from 83,644 square feet and changed a second two-story building to single-story, project engineer Michael Gallagher told the board on May 24. The orientation of another structure was rotated to create a visual barrier from homes.

Other concessions include increasing the height of a security fence from 6 to 8 feet and lowering mounted lights below the fence line. The facility will have other security features, including alarms, keycode access, motion detectors and video cameras.

The variances were necessary because self-storage isn’t an allowable use in the property’s commercial zone. Though officials had some discussion about whether the facility was more appropriate in a business park, the board agreed with planner James Higgins that self-storage was more in line with commercial uses than industrial, the source reported.

“Nearly all of the [self-storage facilities] I’m familiar with are in commercial zones,” Higgins told the board. “It’s a commercial operation, not an industrial operation. In addition, you have a site that does not have public water or sewer service, and this use requires very little in the way of water or sewer.”

No date was reported on when the developer will submit a final site plan.

Central Jersey Storage is based in Millstone Township.

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