Legal standoff ends
Judge rules against Nutley in dispute over ON3 site warehouse
By: Matt Fagan
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A legal standoff that has dragged on for almost four years between Nutley and Prism Capital Partners has ended with a judge ruling in favor of the company that owns ON3.
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The decision, handed down in early February, [2025] sided with Prism, which claimed Nutley arbitrarily determine d that a 2020 application by the developer to build a 147,900-square-foot warehouse on 11 acres along Kingsland Street violated the township's truck terminal ordinance.
..... Nutley's zoning ordinance prohibited the construction of truck terminals anywhere in the city, but it does not provide a realistic definitional of what constitutes a truck terminal, Prism principal Gene Diaz said.
..... Prism owns ON3, which straddles the Clifton-Nutley border along Route 3 and was once the home of pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche.
..... Diaz said Nutley's truck terminal ordinance defines a truck terminal as any property where more than three 1 1/2gross vehicle weight vehicles, which is between 6,001 and 10,000 pounds, are parked overnight.
..... "Essentially, a single-family home with three Ford F-250's would be considered a truck terminal," Diaz said.
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Denied by the township;s zoning officer in February 2021, Prism filed suit against Nutley in August 2021. The warehouse application proposed building 40 loading dock doors and parking for 136 cars.
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Diaz said it was Nuytley's Planning Board that originally deemed the building a truck terminal. Planners referred the company to the town;s Zoning Board of Adjustment first for an interpretation of the Planning Board's decision and later for a use variance, since the zoning board upheld the Planning Board's determination.
..... The zoning board refused to grant the use variance.
..... "Once we exhausted all of our administrative remedies, we filed the lawsuit that the judge ultimately determined in our favor," Diaz said.
..... State Superior Court Judge Russell Passamano said in his decision, published February 4, [2025] that Nutley, in declaring that the warehouse was a truck depot, did so arbitrarily and capriciously.
..... Prism, Diaz said, is working toward getting on the Planning Board's calendar for March. [2025]
Nutley's stance
.... Nutley officials, including its mayor, did not respond to requests for more information on the judge's decision or whether they plan to appeal.
..... Before the judge's ruling. Nutley issued a statement in January [2025] defending its position by saying Diaz and ON3 made exaggerated claims about the implications of Passanano's ruling.
..... For the past few years, On3 developers have sought to establish a truck depot on the former Roache property, Mayor John Kelly said in January. [2025] After Nutley rejected that plan, ON3 shifted its focus to openly prompting a warehouse project."
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"Over the last decade, our Board of Commissioners has turned what could have been a devastating loss into a significant victory with the ON3 property," Kelly said. "We're negotiated in good faith and, at times, had to advocate strongly for what we believe is best for Nutley - and we will continue to do so."
..... Diaz said Nutley won't tell Prism what it wants for the part of the ON3 campus that falls within its borders.
..... "The township has been unable to make up its mind for nine years as to what it prefers to be built on the site," Diaz said.
..... While the builder worked with Clifton, which has more than half of the 116 ares within its borders, to declare the area in need of redevelopment, Nutley officials have never passed a redevelopment plan to change the zoning, he said.
..... "They failed to take any action for nine years, so we filed an application for what was permitted under the current zoning,"Diaz said. "In fact, the commissioners have failed to adopt any development plans for the Nutley portions of ON3 that permitted additional development beyond parking garages for the existing buildings."
..... Diaz said one theory is that Nutley does not want to lose its Urban Aid Designation, which among other things can provide protection against affordable housing mandates.
..... "My discussion concerning urban aid designation is an inference," Diaz said. "That being said, it does not mean I'm wrong.
..... NorthJersey.com tried several times to reach Kelly and township officials for comment concerning the ruling and its implication concerning its Urban Aid Designation, but received no responses.