Residents report truck problem has improved
Some concerns linger, but there are fewer trucks, no more idling
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - Residents who live near an industrial park on McGuire Street say they are experiencing some relative peace and quiet these days.

While they still have concerns about trucks going to and from the Concord Distribution warehouse, the residents said the business is keeping the noise down and abiding by the laws governing its operation in the township's professional-industrial zone. They say trucks are no longer left idling and the business is not operating too early in the morning.

In the meantime, a meeting has been scheduled for next week with certain residents, township officials and Lance Shalit, owner of the Turnpike Industrial Park, which leases space to Concord.

North Woodland Avenue resident Albert Gonzalez said the situation has definitely improved in the months since Nieroda Transport vacated the property where Concord now operates. Nieroda was an electronics shipping operation that brought a high rate of heavy trucks in and out of the neighborhood. Shalit, the landlord, said he ultimately let Nieroda out of its five-year lease early after residents complained repeatedly at Township Council meetings and the township cited the business for zoning violations.

Gonzalez said he and his family were the most affected by the problem of trucks idling at the nearby business.

Pete Garcia, also of North Woodland Avenue, said he still hears the trucks loading but because his windows are shut due to the cooler weather, the problem isn't nearly as bad.

"We don't hear it," he said of the noise.

Gonzalez said he feels the situation is now being handled "very well" by all the parties involved, and he is optimistic that the relative peace will continue.

Shalit said he brought in Concord because he wanted to find a business that both complied with the zoning regulations and that had the least possible effect on nearby residents. He said the business is fully compliant, but that in addition he asked Concord not to leave trucks idling, and the business agreed.

Shalit said Concord, a warehouse for dry and canned food that is distributed to local retailers, brings in one large truck and four smaller trucks per day, though he said a larger warehouse operation could have used more trucks and still complied with the zoning.

"I did everything in my power to put a tenant in there with a limited use of trucks," he said.

One issue that residents continue to raise, however, is the effect of the larger trucks traveling down McGuire Street, Gonzalez said, and McGuire Street resident Frank Coury has said the walls of his home shake when tractor-trailers drive on his street. His wife, Mary, said the couple recently had new windows installed, but they cracked from the vibrations.

Garcia said four or five large trucks go down McGuire each day, and there is a concern the road cannot sustain that type of use.

Gonzalez said potholes on the road were repaired by the township, but the job was poorly done. The holes were patched over, leaving the road uneven in those spots.

"Our concern is the infrastructure of the road itself," Garcia said. "It's not made to support four or five or six of those huge trucks a day. That will eventually lead to some kind of infrastructure failure."

Gonzalez said the township "did a horrible job of fixing" the road and that due to the raised surface, truck vibrations are still felt in the homes.

Compounding the problem is that McGuire Street is likely the most traveled road in the Pine Ridge neighborhood.

One reason for the traffic is the gymnastics academy that is in the same building as Concord.