A number of Mullica Hill residents have voiced concerns about a proposal to build 10 warehouses, a hotel and two housing developments in the Richwood community.
The Richwood General Development Plan – first amended in August 2023 – would cover 2.9 million square feet close to routes 322 and 55, and would also include a retail store. The developer is Active Acquisitions LLC in North Jersey.
Residents at the Sept. 17 Harrison Township Committee meeting expressed concern that the plan could have a negative environmental impact; cause potential health issues; and bring excess traffic, among other issues. There is also a fear that it would diminish the farmland roots on which the community prides itself.
“When I think about warehouses, when I think about what comes with them, I think of the health implications of that community,” said Richwood resident Nicole Dell’Aquila, citing the effects of diesel and other pollution.
“Air pollution can cause epigenetic changes in the lungs,” she added, referring to genetic effects.
“I don’t know if I’m too late,” remarked resident Jack McGuire. “I know I would do whatever it takes to stop it …”
Similar concerns about the warehouse project came up at the Joint Land Use Board (JLUB) meeting on Sept. 5, when the plan was officially introduced. Some residents attended the committee meeting to further discuss issues they feel were dismissed by the JLUB.
“Of course, to the dismay of the residents in attendance, very few questions were answered, and the JLUB dismissed their concerns for this massive project,” emphasized resident Ruth Baker. “In the end, the JLUB found that the GDP (General Development Plan) submitted by the developer was ‘complete,’ since the GDP ‘checked all of the boxes’ to adhere to the revised redevelopment plan dated April 11, 2024.”
According to Mayor Louis Manzo, the project is currently in the general development phase and Active Acquisitions has yet to submit a site plan.
“The short version of that is that though every township committee member does not prefer warehousing in our town,” he explained, “as governing body members, we have to make decisions based on all the facts and the potential ‘worst-case’ scenarios related to our decisions.”‘”
Once approved, the Richwood project’s completion is expected to take 20 years.
“When amending the Richwood Redevelop Plan in August of last year, which shifted away from the proposed soccer field plan (MOTUS), we were counseled by our attorneys that we needed to create a new version of the plan that would allow the landowner (Madison Marquette) the ability to market the commercial aspect of the plan in today’s world,” Manzo explained.
“That calls for allowing warehousing, since the retail and office markets no longer exist.”
The Richwood plan is separate from the proposal for warehouses along Mullica Hill’s border with Woolwich Township. That plan comes from Russo Development, another North Jersey-based builder.
“Therefore, if we limited the commercial areas of the plan to restrict warehousing anywhere, basically rendering those areas ‘not marketable,’ we would be subject to a lawsuit from the landowner,” Manzo said.
“The potential result of a lawsuit could have left us with a court order to allow warehousing in areas that we restricted it anyway, and if that was the case, we would have no say over how they were built or buffered or what they looked like, including no limit on the size of any particular building.”
The next Harrison Township Committee meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7.
