Explainers
Articles
Longer pieces that take one question at a time and answer it from the record. Each one ends with the documents and meeting video it is built on, so you can check it.
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Belle Mead Station, Explained: The Apartments Behind the Pike Run Extension
In April 2026 the Township Committee agreed to support up to 189 apartments and a park-and-ride on 13 vacant acres between Route 206 and Township Line Road "in exchange for" extending affordability controls on 96 Pike Run rentals. That extension is what let Kenvue come out of the housing plan. This explainer covers where the site is, how the deal took shape, what the resolution says, how it differs from the nearby Thrive project, what the record leaves out, and where residents can weigh in. The rezoning it needs has not been introduced.
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Deer in Montgomery: How the Township's Hunt Works and What the 2025 Count Found
Since 2001 Montgomery has opened township parks and open space to permitted hunters to cull deer. A 2025 drone survey counted 3,017 deer, about 93 per square mile, against 69 in a 2021 count made a different way. In the fall of 2026 a Committee member reported concerns about a growing herd and ticks, and a resident asked the Board of Health to press for fewer deer. This explains how the program works, what the record shows, what is still unknown, and how residents can take part.
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Flooding and Stormwater in Montgomery: What Ida Did, What Is Being Built, and What Comes Next
Montgomery's flooding comes from its streams and the Millstone River. Ida in 2021 set a 59-year record on Beden Brook, put about six feet of water into a township sewage plant and produced 40 federal flood-insurance claims, most of them outside FEMA's high-risk zone. Since then the state has bought Ida-damaged homes, the township has built a floodwall and rebuilt two basins, and eight towns are writing a regional watershed plan. The draft is due this fall, and a state-required plan is due December 1, 2027.
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23 Orchard Road: The Redevelopment Designation and the Plan Still to Come
In April 2026 the Township Committee designated 23 Orchard Road, a roughly 44-acre office property at Route 206 and Orchard Road, a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment. The owner has proposed luxury apartments to pay for turning the mostly empty building into an innovation center. The Planning Board has hired an economic adviser, but no redevelopment plan has been drafted. How it got here, what the designation does and does not allow, where a PILOT fits, what is not known, and what it suggests for 199 Grandview Road.
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PILOTs in Montgomery, Explained
A PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) replaces ordinary property taxes with an agreed yearly charge. Montgomery has four on record; a fifth, for Thrive at Montgomery, has been announced but not introduced. Under state law most of the money goes to the township and none to the schools unless the town contracts with the school board. The law, each PILOT, and what is not known.
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The State Lands in Skillman, Explained
Montgomery is pursuing about 395 acres of New Jersey Department of Corrections land in Skillman: 188 acres around the high school and 207 acres on Burnt Hill Road. A 1988 state law already limits the parts that were farmed then to farm, conservation or recreation use. The township has held closed sessions and started the Green Acres paperwork, and the school district and the SAVE animal shelter have asked for pieces. No appraisal, price, vote or state approval is public.
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Getting Around Montgomery: Route 206, the Loop Roads, Transit and Road Safety
Residents told the master plan consultant that getting around Montgomery is their top concern. This explainer covers the Route 206/518 loop roads and the left-turn ban that has not started, who has to order it, the state, county and township road projects on the record, the one bus line, the transportation survey, fatal-crash data, what is not known, and what residents can do.
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The Cherry Valley Cell Tower: Who Builds It, Who Pays, and Why It Isn't Up Yet
The township has picked a company to build a cell tower at the Cherry Valley treatment plant, at $46,212 a year in rent to the township. The tower still depends on a phone carrier agreeing to put antennas on it, and none has. This piece covers how the deal works, how the township got here, what the zoning code says about towers, and what residents can do.
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Farmland and Open Space in Montgomery: The New Preservation Plan, Explained
On October 12, 2026 the Planning Board adopted Montgomery's first new Farmland Preservation Plan since 2010. It counts 2,281.63 preserved acres on 34 farms and names 19 more farms, 852.99 acres, as the next targets. This explains how preservation works and what the plan says and leaves unsettled. It also covers the rest of the 2026 open-space record: a gift, a county grant, 395 acres of state land, and a county building proposed for Skillman Park.
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What the $1.4 Million Is: The Kenvue Campus Tax Bill, Explained
In September 2026 the township warned of about $1.4 million a year in lost tax revenue when Kenvue leaves 199 Grandview Road. That figure is roughly the whole annual property-tax bill on the main campus lot, and most of it goes to the schools and the county, not the township. What would actually change the bill is the owners' tax appeal, which has been open since February. If it succeeds, the difference is spread across every other taxpayer.
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The 2026 Master Plan Reexamination: What It Is and When It Comes Back
Montgomery is rewriting the document that sets its land-use goals, on a grant deadline of March 2027. The listening sessions and surveys are over; a draft is due in early November. What the reexamination must cover, what residents told the planner, what the current goals say about industrial land and open space, and where residents can still weigh in.
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Montgomery's License-Plate Cameras, Explained
Montgomery's police lease seven Flock Safety cameras that photograph passing license plates, about 256,000 a month. The program started in 2023 and costs about $25,000 a year. The Committee has approved its contracts as routine resolutions. State rules, not the township, set how long the data is kept (three years), who may search it and who it may be shared with. In August 2026 Committee members asked about misuse, retention and sharing. This explainer covers what is on the record, where the record is unclear, and what residents can ask for.
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Orchard Road, the Street: What the Township Plans from the Municipal Center to Burnt Hill Road
Montgomery is designing a rebuild of about one mile of Orchard Road, with a new sidewalk on the south side and shared bicycle markings, from Community Drive to Burnt Hill Road. It would be paid for in part by three state grants, one of which has been awarded so far ($537,522). The design contract includes right-of-way acquisition. The total cost and the township's share have not been made public. This project is unrelated to the 23 Orchard Road redevelopment.
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Montgomery Promenade Phase II: The Subdivision Filing and the Neighbors' Agreements
The Promenade's owner has applied to split its Phase II parcel on Route 206 into two lots, with no variances requested and no change in approved floor area. Separately, Route 518 neighbors say the developer has not honored written agreements on a boundary fence, a berm and screening. What the township record shows, the one approval condition that mentions those agreements, how conditions are enforced, and what residents can do before the hearing.
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The PSE&G Substation on Trent Place, Explained
PSE&G will build an unmanned 69/13 kV substation on a 7.1-acre former farm field at 151 Trent Place in Belle Mead, with construction expected from about June 2027 to the end of 2029. It is part of a $105.1 million regional project to relieve two overloaded substations. The Planning Board approved it 5-0 with little public comment. This explainer covers why the township's say was limited, what the file says about noise, light, stormwater and screening, what it does not say, and what residents can still ask for.
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Closing the Cherry Valley Sewage Plant: What the Project Is, What It Costs, and What Is Still Open
Montgomery plans to shut the 30-year-old sewage plant that serves the Cherry Valley development, turn the site into a pump station, and send its wastewater about 3.4 miles to the Skillman Village plant. The plan dates to at least 2020. The state budget has $600,000 for it; the township puts the whole job at $15 million, and the state Water Bank list at $11 million. There is no public schedule, route map or estimate of what it means for sewer bills.
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What an 'Area in Need of Redevelopment' Study Actually Means
On September 17, 2026 the Township Committee sent the main Kenvue parcel — Lot 2 in Block 14001, not the whole campus — to the Planning Board for a non-condemnation redevelopment investigation, 4-0 with one member absent. What New Jersey's redevelopment law requires, what the designation would and would not allow, and the arguments on both sides.
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The Data Center Ordinance and the Lawsuit Against It
Ordinance 26-1779 bans data centers and detention centers throughout Montgomery Township. E. Kahn Development sued on July 31, 2026 to void it. What the ordinance says, what the five-count complaint actually argues, what the Planning Board minutes record — and why the widely reported $300 million figure is false.
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The Environmental Record on the Kenvue Site: What Exists, and What Doesn't
No independent environmental impact study of the 199 Grandview Road campus has been published. Here is what the public record does contain — the site's setting, the traffic figures the developer put on the table, and the water and energy arguments made during the data-center hearing.
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What Changed: How the Kenvue Site Came Out of Montgomery's Housing Plan
From the June 2025 hearings that put 417 units on the former Kenvue campus, through the November 2025 mediation, to the amended plan the Planning Board adopted on March 9, 2026 — what actually happened, who moved, and why the case is still not closed.
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Round Four, Explained: What Montgomery Actually Owes and How It Is Being Met
A 260-unit obligation for 2025–2035, met not by building but by extending the affordability controls on 208 existing affordable homes — 210 units in the plan's table once two carried-over third-round credits are counted. What the numbers are, what a Master Plan can and cannot do, and why builder's-remedy immunity is the thing to watch.
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Where Things Stand: Montgomery Township, September 2026
A status report on the four open questions about the former Kenvue campus — the housing plan, the redevelopment study, the data-center ban and the lawsuits — setting out what has actually been decided and what has not.
Prefer the events in order?
The timeline runs from Kenvue's departure through the September 2026 redevelopment vote, with a citation on every entry.