Millburn answers residents on traffic, zoning, and train station site

A long list of local questions got public answers.

During responses to the first public comment period, Township officials moved issue by issue through concerns residents had raised earlier in the meeting. They said a Creative Arts Advisory Committee resolution included a typo that reversed the class designations, with Class Two intended as the mayor’s designee and Class One as the Township Committee. They said the chair language was meant as a procedural step to organize the committee, and that several seats still remain unfilled. On volunteer recognition, officials said an earlier recommendation was tied to the Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aadi Squad and was not meant as a broader claim about what volunteers receive.

On Wyoming Avenue, multiple officials backed pursuing a lower speed limit and more monitoring, while noting the road is under county control and would require county involvement and traffic studies. They said they would look into truck behavior, school-area congestion, enforcement, and deterrence measures such as decoy police cars. On data centers, officials said many residents wanted a ban, but the ordinance was written to regulate the use while preserving carve-outs for business server rooms, home labs, home-based business server racks, and smart home systems.

Officials said flashing red pedestrian beacons are likely not allowed under applicable standards because they function like stop signs, and they pointed instead to driver attention, signage, and raised crosswalks. They clarified that the small cell site at the Short Hills train station would sit on the eastbound side near the left parking lot and a tree, designed as a 38.5-foot black powder-coated concealed site. On redevelopment, officials said the Historic Preservation Commission would review the train station project in an advisory role on landscaping, materials, and fencing.

The Board settled the Chai Center case and approved the plan.

At a Whispering Woods settlement hearing, the Board took testimony on the Chai Center application for a synagogue at 165 Old Short Hills Road. The application included a site plan and three C(2) variances covering parking, a front-yard fence, and a retaining wall.

Residents focused on practical effects: traffic, parking spillover, lighting, screening, stormwater, and whether outside approvals would still be needed. Board members discussed the limits of what conditions could be attached under the settlement and how those terms would shape the final approval.

The Board then approved the settlement agreement and granted preliminary and final major site plan approval. The approval remains subject to the settlement terms and an added architectural condition, which means the project can proceed only within those negotiated limits.