Township Committee — September 17, 2026

What happened

The Township Committee adopted two resolutions concerning the former Kenvue campus at 199 Grandview Road.

Resolution #26-9-260 directs the Planning Board to investigate whether Block 14001, Lot 2 meets the statutory criteria for designation as a non-condemnation redevelopment area. Resolution #26-9-261 authorises an escrow agreement under which E. Kahn Development Corp. pays the township’s professional costs for that study. Both were adopted 4-0 — Committeeman Douglas Herring, Ahn, Deputy Mayor Taylor Todd and Mayor Singh voting yes; Herring holds the seat Vince Barragan vacated on June 18. Committeeman Mike Martin was absent; Mayor Singh said on the record that he was sick, and he cast no vote in any roll call that night. Two limits are worth stating plainly: the study covers only Lot 2 in Block 14001, not the rest of the campus, and “non-condemnation” means any designation would carry no eminent-domain power.

The township attorney explained the sequence. Montgomery has reached a settlement in its affordable housing case with Fair Share Housing Center, but it is not final until a court approves it at a compliance hearing — and the judge “will not entertain a compliance hearing until we have sat down with [E. Kahn] Development.” The township met with the developer; these resolutions followed. Without that hearing, the attorney said, Montgomery is not in compliance and “we could lose our immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits.” Mayor Singh said a two-member subcommittee, Ahn and Martin, handled the meetings.

Resident Paul Hao asked from the floor whether the two resolutions were requested by the developer or were the Committee’s own idea. The answer from the dais was unambiguous: “That’s his request. Yes. It’s his request.” The mechanism itself is not new here — in October 2025 the Committee directed the same Planning Board to investigate 23 Orchard Road for a non-condemnation designation, with the study due back around March 2026.

The attorney stressed what the vote was not: the study “does not authorize a plan… does not green light any project.” A planners’ report goes to the Planning Board in public, the board recommends back to the Committee, the Committee holds a public hearing, and only then could a designation be made. On the escrow, the attorney said it is standard practice for a developer rather than taxpayers to fund professional costs, and that those professionals report to the township; an equivalent escrow passed the same night for Country Club Meadows. Resolution #26-9-257 renewed Scarinci, Hollenbeck, LLC as affordable housing counsel, and the meeting closed into executive session on docket SOM-L-153-25.

Separately, asked about the “$300 million” figure carried by NJ.com and picked up widely, the attorney said: “That is completely incorrect… There is no demand for $300 million in that lawsuit,” attributing it to reporting on a suit filed in a different municipality. The attorney confirmed the data-center complaint has been filed but not yet served, so the case has not begun.

Why it matters

This is the first formal step toward a redevelopment designation on the Kenvue site, and a genuinely early one. But redevelopment law gives a governing body far more control over what gets built than ordinary zoning does, which is why both sides take it seriously. The township’s argument is that without it, the owner’s by-right option is a large limited-manufacturing complex the Committee cannot shape. The residents’ argument is that the township is enlarging a developer’s options under litigation pressure.

It also matters because the housing fight is not over. Kenvue is out of the Fair Share Plan, which is real, but no compliance hearing has been held and no Judgment of Compliance and Repose has issued. Montgomery’s protection from builder’s-remedy suits stays contingent on a court approving the settlement — and the judge has tied that hearing’s timing to the township’s negotiations with E. Kahn.

Worth watching

• The settlement that is not yet final, 56:40
• “There is no demand for $300 million”, 1:03:10
• The I.M. Pei campus, 1:11:10
• Who actually owns the property, 1:17:20
• Save Montgomery’s statement read into the record, 1:37:00
• Resolution #26-9-260 adopted, 1:53:20

Public comment

Public comment ran about forty minutes and was heavily opposed.

Barbara Preston of The Montgomery News asked for a correction after “warehouses” was used from the dais; the answer was that there is no warehouse application and that the by-right use is manufacturing — though the dais called it “light manufacturing,” a term a later speaker corrected. Nancy Castilino said the $300 million figure had frightened residents on fixed incomes and asked why nobody corrected it when she wrote in August. Shellie Jacobson of Grandview Road said her neighbourhood learned of the plan too late to shape it, pointed to the site’s streams, wetlands and position on the Sourland Mountain, and said the I.M. Pei campus should be repurposed rather than cleared.

Lloyd Fernandez of Skillman challenged the attorney’s ownership statement, saying public records show the property held by separate LLCs rather than by E. Kahn Development Corp. A resident who gave her name as Jennifer said residents should not be asked to subsidise a private investment decision. Dave Leonard corrected the zoning term — limited manufacturing, not light manufacturing — and cited a 2023 New Jersey Supreme Court decision involving West Orange for the rule that a designation needs proof both of a listed statutory condition and that the condition is detrimental to the community’s safety, health or welfare. A resident objected that the item sat at the end of a long agenda, and read Bruce Afran’s statement into the record. Laurie Cleveland of the Sourland Conservancy thanked the Committee for the data-center ban and asked it to consider preservation instead.

Not every speaker opposed. Harold Wasserman of Skillman said the owner is realistically stuck with a vacant corporate campus and suggested a hospital satellite as a reuse.

The Committee returned repeatedly to money, and its fiscal case deserves to be reported straight. The township attorney said Kenvue will cease operations at the site by the end of 2026, and Mayor Singh said the township expects a resulting gap of roughly $1.4 million a year in tax revenue, with E. Kahn having already told township staff it will come to the township seeking relief on the emptied buildings’ assessment. The developer’s own presenter had flagged a tax appeal publicly a year earlier, in September 2025.