By Joe McLaughlin
Planners for a self-storage and arts facility at One Lafayette Avenue finished testifying before the Morristown zoning board on Wednesday.
But rather than proceed to a vote, the applicant opted to delay until later this month, as the board convened with only six voting members for the virtual session.
The five-story, mixed-use project would provide about 82,000 square feet of self-storage space and roughly 2,350 square feet on the first floor for Morris Arts.
Founded in 1973, Morris Arts is the county’s official arts agency. It was a tenant of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation at 14 Maple Ave. for more than 14 years, but has lacked a home since the Dodge Foundation moved to Newark in December.
The nonprofit expects the proposed project will offer the same level of administrative, event and gallery space it had on Maple Avenue.
In testimony before the board, Morris Arts Executive Director Tom Werder said his organization is not able to pay market rate for the space it needs to operate in Morristown.
“This space would be a game-changer for us, frankly, because it would put us right on the ground floor where the public is and where artists populate,” Werder said. “People would be coming in and out of our gallery space on a regular basis.”
The .64-acre, triangular-shaped lot is bordered on the north and west by New Jersey Transit tracks, and on the east by the Staples shopping center. It is accessible via Lafayette Avenue to the south.
The project requires a D variance because a self-storage facility is not permitted on the lot, which sits in Morristown’s town center district and transit overlay district.
It also requires several C variances for parking spaces, sidewalk width, setback and the mounting height of lights, signs and windows.
At the Zoom meeting, the board heard from Ketan Patel, principal at KBR2 Ventures, a consulting company focused on self-storage development, design and construction.
Patel presented the results of a study that indicated roughly 5.4 square feet of self-storage space per person within a three-mile radius of the project, which he said was an under-supply. Should the building be approved, there would be 6.4 square feet per person in the same radius.
The benchmark, according to Patel, is nine square feet of self-storage space per person.
He added that the building likely would yield 62,000 square feet of actual storage, not including hallways, offices, elevator shafts and other administrative spaces.
“This property is better located, in my opinion, than the four existing self-storage facilities in a three-mile area,” he said. “This is due mainly to its proximity to the renters in the area.
“It is remarkable how many renters are in a one-mile radius. Compared to other suburbs, this is a higher number than what I typically see.”
Board Vice Chairman Scott Wild pointed out that Morristown’s transit overlay district is meant to prioritize pedestrians, while the proposed storage facility would be accessed almost entirely by vehicles.
“I still struggle quite a bit with this notion of putting something that generates no pedestrian activity in a transit overlay district,” he said.
Civil engineer Afton Savitz explained slight alterations to the proposed project. Among them, a second cargo truck space was added to the parking lot and the first-floor layout was changed to allow direct pedestrian access to the arts space without having to go through a portion of the floor dedicated to storage.
The session closed with project planner Matthew Seckler from Stonefield Engineering Design, who also served as the application’s traffic engineer. He testified that the site’s triangular shape and proximity to two sets of train tracks make it unsuitable for other projects.
“I don’t think this site is well-suited to a number of the uses that are permissible in this district,” he said. “I don’t think this is a great site for a restaurant. You don’t want something generating a significant amount of car trips when there’s limited access onto a public roadway.”
Seckler also said a residential building would have marketability challenges due to the nearby train tracks. Though self-storage facilities are not a permitted use in this zone, he pointed out that such facilities are not permitted in any Morristown zone.
“Triangular shapes are challenging, yet they’re doable, and can be very successful,” said board Chair James Bednarz. “It’s irregular; it’s triangular; but it’s achievable.”
After hearing all comments from the board, project attorney Frank Vitolo opted to delay the board vote until a later meeting.
“I’m not going to risk this application until we have seven votes,” he said.
I hear you Jeff. For me when we are trying to build and promote a vibrant downtown with access by train, the location doesn’t work for me. I would try to push for the storage to be built into the developments and they can charge or not charge for it. I have family with storage business and they say most people leave there stuff in storage for years, even after they move.
ALekberg, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to use that space for storage units, although they are not usually in a city center. But they don’t generate a lot of traffic volume and the bottom floor will be used for something else, so I don’t see the problem. As you know, building multifamily housing is expensive and it’s not easy or cheap to include storage – not to mention the space needed for that. Also, not everyone needs it. I don’t understand the pushback to this project.
Jeff, I’m interested in your thoughts on the self storage space/arts building. Do you think this is a good use of land near the train station?
ALL housing is affordable. If that were not the case, housing stock (rentals, condos, townhouses, houses, etc.) would sit empty or the prices would drop until they were rented or sold. That is not the case. Housing units are snapped up quickly in almost every market. I live in a very expensive city, and that is the case here.
KBR2 Ventures has looked at it’s stats and says “we are in an under-supply of storage units”. We also are in an under-supply of affordable housing. Can we look at affordable housing here or a park? Both of these would benefit Morristown overall. Small storage for apartment dwellers should be the burden of the apartment developments not the town’s.
MorrisArts would be better served in a more vibrant building.