Toll Brothers proposes 118 townhomes for former JCP&L site in Morris Township

By Kathy Shwiff

A proposed residential housing development at 300 Madison Ave. in Morris Township is likely to be approved by the Planning Board, Frank Vitolo, an attorney for the developer, told residents on Tuesday.

The Toll Brothers development would have 118 units, including 24 deemed affordable housing. The rest would be sold at market rates. All units would be for sale.

The project includes demolishing the former JCP&L building on the eight-acre site. The demolition would be done with bulldozers and other equipment, not with explosives, Toll Brothers officials said.

The proposed development complies with the Township’s zoning laws and does not require variances, Vitolo said during an informational session at the Madison Hotel.

The project was included in the Township’s fourth-round affordable housing plan, which is mandated by the state and has been approved by the courts, he noted.

Under the plan, Morris Township must provide 375 affordable housing units from 2025 through 2035.

The Planning Board will review the Toll Brothers project at its meeting on Sept. 14, 2026.

JCP&L currently pays $400,000 in annual taxes on the property. The annual taxes are expected to rise to $1.7 million when the Toll Brothers project is completed, said Vitolo, a member of the Sills Cummis & Gross law firm.

PROJECT CALLED ‘HOME RUN’

“You’ve hit a home run with this project,” he said. “This is not an apartment building. These units are not rental units; they are for-sale units.

“Toll Brothers has a track record of doing well-designed and beautiful townhome communities in New Jersey. … It’s a lower density than any other residential project that you could have as well.”

Vitolo said the plans may be tweaked, especially regarding landscaping, as some residents asked the developer to retain the huge tree at the corner of Madison Avenue and Punch Bowl Road.

While about 70 trees are expected to be removed during construction, Toll Brothers plans to plant nearly 150 new trees in the development.

Matt Errico, vice president of acquisitions at Toll Brothers, said townhomes will be stacked along Madison Avenue and Punch Bowl Road with three-story townhomes on the rest of the property.

The stacked townhomes will have a lower unit with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and about 1,300 square feet and an upper unit with three bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms and about 2,000 square feet.

The three-story townhomes, with about 2,500 square feet, will have two-car garages and two driveway parking spaces while the stacked townhomes will have one-car garages and one driveway space.

The stacked townhomes likely will cost from $600,000 to $800,000 and the three-story townhomes from $1.1 million to $1.2 million.

The affordable units, which will be scattered throughout the development, may cost between $50,000 and $220,000, Errico said. Those units must remain affordable for 30 years and township officials may seek to extend that time.

The total of 327 parking spaces includes 55 along the interior streets.

The development’s homeowner association eventually will make rules governing parking and other issues.

NO ENTRANCE ON MADISON AVENUE

There will be two entrances to the development on Old Turnpike Road and one on Punch Bowl Road but none on Madison Avenue.

There will be a sidewalk along Madison Avenue outside the development, which will be enclosed with a black aluminum fence. Buildings will be about 30 feet or more from the edge of the property, as required by zoning laws.

The development includes a small community center, swimming pool and children’s playground for its residents.

When asked about traffic, Vitolo said residential developments always have less impact on traffic than office buildings.

Construction probably will begin next summer and take two to three years, Errico said.

The development will be built in sequence, said Alex Chotalal, senior land entitlements manager at Toll. The pace of building depends on sales and how long construction takes.

Toll Brothers is planning a similar development at 100 Southgate Parkway, where townhomes would replace an office building. An informational session on that project will be scheduled in the future.