The residents have formed a group — Friends of Southern Middlesex County — to make their case and are allying themselves with other groups with similar concerns.
I am a huge proponent, as most people probably know by now, of citizen action and activism and, as a general rule, I tend to support neighbors in their fights against developers.
The issue here, however, is that the basic outline of this development is allowed under current zoning — and was allowed well before the Four Seasons development was built. The question, then, is how to address the concerns of residents without infringing on the rights of Matrix.
Neighbors are mistaken if they think they can stop the project in its tracks, but that does not mean that nothing can be done.
The answer, it would seem, is to hold the developer to the letter of the zoning, to ensure adequate buffering between residential and commercial uses. Make sure that whatever it is that Matrix ultimately builds has as little impact on the adjacent neighborhoods as possible.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
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Hank Kalet 