Articles Land use and development
The Evans Way Redevelopment Plan, Explained: From Warehouses to 400 Homes
How the Evans Way area became a non-condemnation redevelopment area in 2022, what the warehouse plan and its 2023 site-plan approval were, how the first warehouse building on the smaller lot was allowed to go ahead as a phase in 2025, what Ordinance 2026-1508 allows instead on the larger lot (up to 300 apartments and 100 townhouses, 80 affordable), and what still has to happen before the housing is built.
The short version
- The Evans Way area — Block 58, Lot 36 (about 38.09 acres), Block 58.01, Lot 4 (about 5 acres) and portions of the Evans Way right-of-way — was designated a non-condemnation redevelopment area in 2022 and given a warehouse redevelopment plan.
- The Planning Board approved the warehouse site plan in 2023. On Oct. 28, 2025 it let the approved 30,000-square-foot building on the smaller lot, Block 58.01, Lot 4, go ahead first as phase one.
- Ordinance 2026-1508, adopted March 9, 2026 by a 5–0 vote, replaced the plan for Block 58, Lot 36 with an amended plan allowing up to 300 apartments and 100 townhouses, 80 of them affordable.
- The April 15, 2026 affordable-housing compliance order lists the Evans Way/KRE mechanism as proposed. KRE still needs Planning Board site-plan approval for the housing; its counsel told the Committee on March 9, 2026 that the project would take about 24 to 36 months from breaking ground.
What the area is
The properties sit at the intersection of Evans Way and Old York Road; the June 2025 Housing Element and Fair Share Plan describes the site as vacant, with multi-family housing to the west, light industrial uses and overhead utility lines to the north and east, and a Township-owned park and single-family residences to the south. The 2022 redevelopment agreement recites the property owner as S/K Stoney Brook Associates. “Non-condemnation” means the designation did not invoke the redevelopment law’s condemnation powers.
2021–2023: the warehouse plan
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| Nov. 8, 2021 | Township Committee Resolution 2021-237 directs a preliminary redevelopment investigation of Block 58, Lot 36, Block 58.01, Lot 4 and portions of the Evans Way right-of-way |
| Jan. 4, 2022 | The redevelopment study / preliminary investigation report is dated |
| Jan. 25, 2022 | The Planning Board holds a noticed public hearing on the study — testimony from the planning consultant, with the public given the opportunity to ask questions and raise objections — and recommends designation by Resolution 2022-008 |
| Feb. 14, 2022 | Township Committee Resolution 2022-60 designates the study area a non-condemnation redevelopment area |
| Mar. 28, 2022 | Ordinance 2022-1424 adopts the Evans Way Redevelopment Plan and establishes an Evans Way Redevelopment Plan Zone |
| May 10, 2022 | The Township and S/K Stoney Brook Associates enter a redevelopment agreement: three warehouse/distribution buildings totaling approximately 300,300 square feet, accessory office space and site improvements, with a 2.26-acre land donation to the Township for municipal purposes |
| Aug. 19, 2022 | Plans for application 2022-010P—PFSP/PFSUB describe a 200,750-square-foot building on proposed Lot 36, a 66,150-square-foot building on proposed Lot 36.02 and a 30,000-square-foot building on Block 58.01, Lot 4, with proposed Lot 36.01 to be donated to the Township |
| June 27, 2023 | The Planning Board adopts a memorializing resolution approving application 2022-010P—PFSP/PFSUB (preliminary/final major subdivision and site plan); the Board’s Oct. 28, 2025 minutes refer to the resolution “approved by the Planning Board on July 27, 2023” |
These steps come from the recitals of Ordinance 2026-1508, filed with the court in March 2026. Two figures sit side by side in those recitals without explanation: the 2022 agreement’s approximately 300,300 square feet across three buildings, and the 2022 application’s building areas of 200,750, 66,150 and 30,000 square feet. The June 2025 HEFSP describes the site as vacant.
2025–2026: the switch to housing
The June 2025 Housing Element and Fair Share Plan listed Evans Way/KRE as one of the four mechanisms for Branchburg’s Fourth Round affordable-housing obligation: a 400-family-unit inclusionary project on the 38-acre site with 80 affordable units (a 20% set-aside), about 10.5 dwelling units per acre, and a two-acre donation along Stony Brook Road contemplated for future open space and recreation. The April 15, 2026 court order that certified the plan lists those 80 units as proposed. See Branchburg’s Fourth Round affordable-housing plan.
At the Planning Board’s June 24, 2025 hearing on that plan, Board Planner Kendra Lelie said, in the minutes’ account, that KRE owns both Evans Way and Whiton Hills and presented them together; that Evans Way “previously faced opposition due to proposed industrial warehouses”; that the plan is 80 affordable units with 240 market-rate apartments and 80 market-rate townhomes on about 38 acres; and that KRE’s original plan was all apartments at a higher density, with the Township asking for townhomes and lower density. No member of the public commented.
The first warehouse building goes ahead (Oct. 28, 2025). The Planning Board approved S/K Stoney Brook Associates’ amended application (2022-010P PFSP/PFSUB Amended) to build the approved 30,000-square-foot building on Block 58.01, Lot 4 — 5,000 square feet of office and 25,000 of warehouse, with six loading bays, a 14-foot sound wall and 35 parking spaces — as phase one, with no change to the 2023 plan. The applicant’s attorney, Glenn S. Pantel, said the lot was under contract to be sold, the closing would come that year and construction would start the next, and that the applicant remained committed to the affordable housing on the rest of the site. Township Engineer Douglas Ball said Block 58, Lot 36 is still part of the Fourth Round plan, and Ms. Lelie said that part will need site-plan approval and a zoning change. A resident asked what business would occupy the building; Mr. Pantel said the buyer could not be named and the use would be the approved distribution/warehouse use. The Board approved the application and adopted Resolution PB 2025-022 the same night, 5–0 (Chairman Chabrak, Councilwoman Columbus, Ms. Cook, Mr. Hambro and Mr. McLoughlin).
Ordinance 2026-1508. The Committee introduced the amendment on February 9, 2026, on motion of Mrs. Columbus, seconded by Mr. Young, with all five members in favor. The next day the Planning Board reviewed it for Master Plan consistency; Ms. Lelie said KRE had asked to be part of the Fourth Round plan, that “Branchburg agreed this was a better use of the property,” and that KRE will still need site-plan approval. The Board adopted Resolution PB 2026-011 on the ordinance, 7–0. On March 9, 2026 the Committee adopted it on motion of Mr. Owens, seconded by Mr. Young, by recorded vote of 5–0 (Mr. Thomas Young, Mrs. Anna Columbus, Mr. David Owens, Mr. Brendon Beatrice and Mayor James Schworn); the minutes record 40 members of the public, and no one spoke at the hearing. On its consent agenda the same night, also 5–0, the Committee approved Resolution 2026-67, an amended redevelopment agreement and affordable housing agreement with S/K Stoney Brook Associates. Township counsel filed the ordinance and the January 2026 amended plan with the Superior Court on March 13, 2026 as an implementing item of the housing compliance case.
What the 2026 plan allows
On Block 58, Lot 36:
- Up to 300 apartments, of which 60 would be affordable, and up to 100 townhouses, of which 20 would be affordable — 80 affordable units in all, the 20% set-aside in each type.
- The HEFSP’s description of the mechanism: 400 family units in total at about 10.5 dwelling units per acre.
Block 58.01, Lot 4 remains under its prior designation, with the approved warehouse building. The plan’s introduction contemplates future public use of a two-acre portion for open space and recreation; the 2022 agreement had recited a 2.26-acre portion for municipal purposes.
The ordinance directed the Clerk to refer it to the Planning Board for master-plan consistency review under N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-7e; the Board did so on February 10, 2026 (Resolution PB 2026-011, 7–0).
What comes next
- A site-plan application for the housing. On March 9, 2026, Township Attorney William Willard said that once the remaining agreements are executed, the developers can bring their applications to the Planning Board or Zoning Board. Derek Orth, counsel for KRE Developers, said construction can begin once all items are finalized and State approvals are granted, and that the project would take about 24 to 36 months from breaking ground.
- The Lot 4 warehouse building. Under the October 2025 phasing approval, it is the first phase of the 2023 plan; the applicant said construction would start in 2026.
- The land donation. The 2022 agreement recited 2.26 acres for municipal purposes and the 2026 plan contemplates two acres for open space and recreation; the ordinance does not say whether the second figure revises the first.
- The court’s midpoint. The affordable-housing order provides a realistic-opportunity review as of July 1, 2030, on which a party may file if an inclusionary site lacks preliminary site-plan approval.
What residents can do
- Watch for a site-plan hearing. A residential plan of this size would go through Planning Board site-plan and subdivision review with public hearings. The Board meets the second and fourth Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building courtroom; the agendas and minutes index links the Board’s notice folders.
- The court record. The ordinance and plan are on the NJ Courts Somerset affordable-housing page as part of docket SOM-L-142-25, whose midpoint review falls on July 1, 2030.
- Corrections to this page can be emailed to info@localwhy.org.