A plan to tear down the old JCP&L office building on Madison Avenue and replace it with 118 townhomes is still stuck in neutral, as Morris Township's Planning Board decided Monday night it needs more time before deciding whether to approve the project. Toll Brothers returned with revised site plans addressing parking, emergency access, landscaping and recreational amenities, but residents and board members once again zeroed in on whether the developer's traffic projections hold up.
The proposal, filed under the name Toll NJ I, LLC, calls for 118 townhomes at 300 Madison Avenue, including 24 affordable-housing units and 94 market-rate units, according to Morristown Green. The project would demolish the former JCP&L building and a two-story parking garage on the roughly eight-acre site, which sits on Block 8601, Lot 4 in the township's TH-15/AH zone, per the same outlet. Toll Brothers submitted its revised plans on October 9, according to Joshua Kudry, and the matter returned to the board on Monday night, as TAPinto reported.
Parking Numbers Shift Again as Plans Evolve
Parking has been a moving target throughout the review. An nj.com report in September described 324 spaces in an early application summary, while Morristown Green's coverage of that same month's hearing put the figure at 327 spaces, described as 72 more than required. The latest revision bumps the total to 332 spaces, a net increase of five, including 53 on-street visitor spaces and eight on-street spaces reserved for the affordable-housing units — identified by unit number rather than by affordable-housing signage, per the article in TAPinto.
The developer also enlarged turnaround areas at the ends of two internal courts and added an emergency access connection from Old Turnpike Road to Court A for fire trucks, according to the same account. Additional lighting is proposed for pedestrian walkways along Punch Bowl Road and Old Turnpike Road, and the community's playground would get extra screening plus a key-fob-controlled resident access gate. The applicant's engineer said moving the playground deeper into the site would significantly disrupt the layout, since stormwater infrastructure runs beneath the recreation area.
Trees, Retaining Walls and a Pool House
Landscaping changes remain in flux. The landscaping plan calls for removing roughly 70 trees and planting 162 new ones. The revised landscaping also includes additional evergreen shrubs and trees near Punch Bowl Road and Old Turnpike Road, and a retaining wall on the property will reach approximately six feet in height, per TAPinto's account.
Beyond the plantings, the development includes a swimming pool and a pool house, plus a playground and other amenities, according to Morristown Green. Access would come from two entrances off Old Turnpike Road and one off Punch Bowl Road, with the emergency firetruck connection layered on top of that existing circulation plan. Toll Brothers maintains the project complies with zoning and requires no variances or design waivers.
Traffic Consultant Defends 75 Percent Comparison
The traffic question dominated the night. Gary Dean, the developer's traffic engineer, estimated the residential development would generate roughly 75 percent less traffic than the site's prior use as a fully occupied office building, and testified that the approximately 186,000-square-foot former JCP&L operation could have produced more than 200 peak-hour trips at capacity compared with about 60 peak-hour trips for the townhomes. Morris Township's own traffic consultant, John Jarr, seconded those findings, according to Morristown Green.
But residents pushed back, questioning whether comparing the project to a fully occupied office building reflects current neighborhood conditions rather than the site's recent, largely vacant state. Dean defended the methodology anyway, telling the board, “I can't compare an empty building to a proposed development,” per TAPinto's report. He also argued that directing vehicles toward the signalized intersection of Madison Avenue and Punch Bowl Road is preferable to routing more traffic toward Old Turnpike Road. Board members and residents nonetheless raised concerns about traffic backups, construction vehicles and the added residential traffic the project would bring, and Planning Board member and township committeeman William “Bud” Ravitz said the board could still work to mitigate traffic flow as the application moves forward.
Design Review and Affordable-Unit Layouts Still Under Scrutiny
Design questions added another layer to Monday's discussion. Board members requested a comparison of the proposed building designs against the township's architectural guidelines, and the developer agreed to revisit that analysis and provide more information before the next session. The applicant also indicated that four of the affordable units would have a two-bedroom layout with one bedroom on a different floor from the unit's only bathroom.
The proposal is tied to Morris Township's Fourth Round affordable-housing obligations, which the township's housing plan sets at nine present-need units and 375 prospective-need units, according to a resolution posted by Morris Township. For comparison, Toll Brothers' recently approved 75-unit townhouse development in nearby Randolph includes 15 affordable units and was projected to add 39 morning peak-hour trips and 43 afternoon peak-hour trips, according to Jersey Digs.
Hearing Pushed to Mid-November
With testimony and public questions still unresolved, board members determined more time was needed for review, witness questioning and public participation. The Planning Board agreed to carry the application to its November 16 meeting, set for 7 p.m. at the Morris Township Municipal Building, and the continued hearing will proceed without additional public notice, per the township's official meeting notice. Maps and exhibits tied to the application remain public records that residents can inspect during normal weekday business hours at township offices.
