Residents face new challenge in potential Mullica Hill warehouse saga
HARRISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- Harrison Township's mayor announced earlier this month that despite his personal distaste for warehouses, the township may need them to boost property tax revenue.
It's a blow for neighbors in Mullica Hill, who've been fighting a proposed distribution center along Route 322 and Tomlin Station Road.
"Listen to your people," Clint Guest said. "We've said this multiple times. We have a Facebook group out there that has over 1,000 local residents that don't want this."
Mayor Lou Manzo said distribution centers could prevent a significant hit on homeowners' future property tax bills.
"This is the hard part of the conversation, which comes with sitting in one of these five seats of a governing body member, where you have to make tough decisions sometimes for what's considered the greater good," Mayor Manzo said.
The mayor said the township's put zoning protections in place to control the aesthetics of a warehouse development.
"If anything does come down the road, as far as a warehouse developer, we're going to at least have some capability to restrict what it'll look like and how it'll circulate," Mayor Manzo said.
In December, the Harrison Township Joint Land Use Board voted down the proposed distribution center along Route 322, in what many neighbors saw as a victory for their cause.
"We don't want to be another township that it's based on warehouses and distribution centers," Guest said. "We love our quality of life, and we want to keep it that way."
Neighbors have also sued the township to effectively stop any warehouse development on the land along Route 322.
A court date for the lawsuit is set for April.
