The Politics of Warehouses in Phillipsburg
PHILLIPSBURG - The crowd was in a feisty, if not angry, mood when developer Michael Perrucci stepped to the microphone.
Here I am -- I'm the bad guy, he said - a bit sarcastically.
Perrucci then delivered a very blunt response to many of those jammed into a recent meeting of the town's Land Use Board.
"I've seen all the lies .... Are you people crazy?"
This wasn't the usual spiel from a developer.
"I'm not going to let anything bad happen back there," he said, adding that it's not going to be a 24/7 operation with 200 trucks coming and going.
"Back there" is about 42 acres along Howard Street and near the Delaware River, where Perrucci's company, Peron Construction, wants to build warehouses.
On one hand, this is a very familiar battle - a developer wants to build and residents say "no way."
Warehouses, however, seem to have become a political lightning rod.
They're not necessarily attractive and critics fear truck traffic all day - and all night.
Just a few miles north, strident resident opposition helped stop a massive warehouse plan in much more rural White Township. After a battle lasting more than four years, the state said it would buy the land for preservation.
Back in this historic, blue-collar town, Perrucci, who has owned the site for about 20 years, said he tried to develop a residential project. Things looked OK, but that ended with the financial crash of 2008 and 09.
More recently, Perrucci said he had plans lined up for a cold storage unit that would have produced 250 jobs at $50,000 a year. Local people would have been hired.
But he said a lawsuit aimed at stopping the warehouse plan scared the investor away.
That suit was filed by David Morrisette and his wife, Sandra. It challenges a borough rezoning ordinance to permit warehouses on the site.
Given the fact the town has approved the warehouse plan, litigation may be the best way to stop it.
On Tuesday of this week, I met David Morrisette for a tour of the Howard Street neighborhood.
A town resident for 30 years, Morrisette works at Lehigh University - as an "IT guy," he said.
For starters, he said the residential neighborhood closest to the site already must deal with an industrial development on the other side of Main Street. Building an estimated 420,000 square-feet of warehouses on the river-side of their neighborhood would stick them between two undesirable attractions. This is not an affluent neighborhood, which suggests residents may not find it easy to move.
The actual site is overgrown, but beyond it is a riverfront park. A park that quite candidly leaves much to be desired.
Morrisette noted that the old playing field can no longer be used because of contamination.
Opponents of the warehouse plan say the development site can be combined with the current park and redeveloped. That can benefit residents and with the river nearby, visitors as well.
As we traversed the area, a woman stuck her head out the window of an area home to say hello.
Morrisette quickly asked about the warehouse proposal.
"Too much traffic, trucks now," she said.
No, she wasn't a plant. Morrisette said he didn't know her.
Morrisette's suit begins by showing how the town describes itself on its website. Here is some of what it says.
"Welcome To Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Located on the Delaware River, in a beautiful setting of rolling hills, woodlands, and flowing waters, Phillipsburg, New Jersey offers the best of all worlds. Here, you can escape from crowded, impersonal developments, and find the joys of living in a close-knit community of families and friends, as you enjoy all the advantages of urban living as well as rural atmosphere - from a quaint downtown waterfront shopping district, to a choice of nearby airports."
It says that description is "utterly incompatible" to a large warehouse project along the river.
At the Land Use Board meeting, residents made a number of claims:
Warehouse jobs are not high paying and would not help the local economy.
Taxes will still go up.
Warehouses are ugly, or as one person said, "A warehouse is just a box."
Some were more dramatic, claiming that Phillipsburg is at a crossroads and let's not hand over our future to warehouses.
How about Perrucci's comments that he will do nothing to harm Phillipsburg?
"He may believe he's not going to harm Phillipsburg, but the residents of Phillipsburg don't agree with him," Morrisette said.
Nothing happens in a vacuum and during the meeting, Perrucci noted that one of the opponents on hand was Guy Citron, of Califon. He was a 2023 Democratic candidate for the Assembly in LD-23 and he's running again this year.
Perrucci's point - a lot of the opposition is simple politics.
Of course. Development is always about politics.
OMG Enough already. If you don't live on the flats you have no reason to complain. This land has always been industrial with Tipit and Wood, then Oliver fabrication, and with a major railroad hub. David what you want to see there? More open space that will not be used or taken care of by the town like the Delaware River Park. The traffic on Main Street is because Easton has there stuff together, the the toll hike on the bridges, and the pot place. Build the warehouse more jobs and taxable.
The warehouse boom is heading toward a bust. The Wall St Journal and the Daily Record have articles saying as much, they are going the way of “campus office parks” remember them? There are multiple warehouses on Rand Ave that sit empty while at least 3 more are under construction within 5 miles or less of the one proposed. All promise jobs, no impact on traffic, and benefits to the community. Meanwhile no plans to upgrade infrastructure other than “timing traffic lights” to avoid congestion. Navigating the hilly, twisting roads off of Rt 22, an antiquated design with no shoulders to speak of , and intersecting with residential areas is a disaster waiting to happen. Truckers are parked overnight on the shoulders of Rt 78 because there’s nowhere for them to go. This area is becoming one giant industrial site from end to end.
I for one do not want any more warehouses in Phillipsburg! Can't you do something else. Like hotels concert stage. Somthing that will bring people here. That includes lots of jobs also. Indoor and out door entertainment. I would rather see something like that.
Yes. Of course. Would they build warehouses in Clinton Township? Liz
100% Elizabeth, perucci, is taking advantage of this town because we are not the upper class.
Wake up Petrucci, we don't want the warehouses. Thank you Dave for all you are doing, to keep these hideous buildings out of our town.
The warehousers use Phillipsburg and surrounding areas because they think we are lower socioeconomic residents and they can take advantage of us. We have all been dealing with rampant truck traffic coming down small, old roads built for horse and buggies, with houses right up to the roads. I know of a case in which a child was run over by one of these trucks, and killed. Please get these blood-suckers off our backs!
We are dealing with attempts to turn Musconetcong River Watershed into warehouse land now. There are rural homes here, previously land reserved for farmland preservation, Highlands Council regions, and the citizens are going to speak out against this invasion. It's pollution and desecration of all that's left of rural land in New Jersey. Don't turn Phillipsburg into a warehouse wasteland
The Delaware River stretch is a federally designated Wild and Scenic River. There are tremendous opportunities to make the site park of a wonderful urban waterfront park, recreation and historic site. The Murphy DEP needs to step up - Phillipsburg riverfront park could be NJ's sister city with "east coast" Jersey City and Liberty State Park
The town's Master Plan of 1988 identified traffic congestion on South Main Street and industrial traffic through residential neighborhoods as major problems. The proposed warehouse on Howard Street would aggravate both of those still existing problems since the residential portion of South Main Street is the only way for trucks to the proposed warehouse to access the highway network.
Resident of Phillipsburg here. Mr. Perucci made a bad decision 20 years ago buying a parcel of land situated between a shooting range (noisy) and a waste management operation and getting it rezoned as residential. Now he needs it to be zoned industrial to put a warehouse on one of last (and likely the largest) tract of open space remaining within Phillipsburg. Mr. Snowflack is correct is his estimation that Delaware River Park has a lot to be desired, but I personally visited the park every day for six weeks during the strict lockdowns (April-May 2020). I took great solace in observing the returning migrating birds, and butterflies, and other wildlife...all of which also reside beyond the chain link fences of the parks boundary with the Peron property (Mr. Perucci's company that owns the adjoining 30+ acres) On a recent Sunday in January (cloudy skies and 40 degrees) at least three people were visiting the enclosed dog park while my husband and I walked the fitness path. The park could and should be more than it is, but a warehouse right next to the park will degrade the character of the park further and discourage residents from using it. Phillipsburg is just one of many New Jersey communities fighting warehouses and other unwanted development. Unfortunately, the residents who have brighter, more sustainable visions for the future do not have deep enough pockets to acquire the properties outright while the clock ticks down, and developers get the approvals they need to proceed with their projects. I gladly attended several of the White Township meetings as part of the opposition to the proposed Jaindl warehouse that would have swallowed up 500+ acres of healthy, active agricultural land forever. I am beyond impressed by the victory that Citizens for Sustainable Development and the NJ Highlands Coalition eventual secured when the state decided to acquired as preserved farmland. I hope for some better outcome in Phillipsburg than a warehouse on a property that has been unmaintained for two decades. This land is now a maturing forest that is providing great habitat for songbirds, woodpeckers, raptors and so much more. If folks from outside of Phillipsburg want to voice their concern to preserve this parcel, I , for one, welcome any help we can get.