The Federal Reserve's Warren campus got smaller, and the Planning Board approved it unanimously

The Planning Board opened at 7:31 p.m. on February 11 and took three actions. The Federal Reserve application, PB 25-01A, did not get called until 9:45 p.m., which tells you something about how long the other two took.

The Federal Reserve amendment

The property at 15 and 45 Mountain View Road runs roughly 118 acres and was the Chubb Insurance headquarters. It is governed by a 2024 redevelopment plan. Attorney Katherine Coffey of Day Pitney presented for the applicant.

The previously approved scheme was a 391,315 square foot cash service center plus a law enforcement training center, a secured courtyard, a guardhouse and 326 parking spaces.

What changed:

The entrance canopy was modified. The taller storage portion rises to 69 feet 7 inches and remains compliant with the redevelopment plan standards. No variance relief was required for any of it.

The vote was unanimous, 9 in favor.

The direction of these changes is worth naming plainly. Every dimension that moved, moved down, with the single exception of the 15 percent storage element. The law enforcement building is now roughly a quarter of its prior size. The main building lost about 5,400 square feet of footprint and nearly seven feet of height across the bulk of its mass.

The Master Plan Reexamination Report

The first item of the night was adoption of the Master Plan Reexamination Report, with no votes against.

Planner Katherine Sarmad testified that the report is scoped narrowly to affordable housing and the 2024 Amended Fair Housing Act. The Township adopted a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan in June 2025, and on February 3, 2026 a judge found the plan compliant. Sarmad described three replacement sites and a March 15, 2026 deadline to adopt the Amended Housing Element and Fair Share Plan along with implementing ordinances.

Resident David Green noted the gap between the obligation the Township was assigned, 262 units, and the 181 units it had sought.

Two additional recommendations came out of the report: a study on expanding the Park and Ride, and more attention to public electric vehicle chargers.

The Old Stirling Road subdivision, approved 7-2

The contested item was PB 25-05, Flamingo Builders LLC, at 69, 71 and 73 Old Stirling Road, Block 86.01 Lots 10, 11 and 12.

Attorney Alan Siegel sought preliminary major subdivision approval to reconfigure three lots into four across 11.379 total acres in the CR 130 zone, where the minimum lot size is 3 acres. The proposed lots:

Three of the four proposed lots come in under the 3 acre minimum. The application also required a 10 foot side yard variance against 25 feet required, for a pool built across a lot boundary at 69 Old Stirling Road.

It was approved 7-2. Voting in favor: Serra, Argiro, DiBianca, Scuderi, Esposito, Puglisi and Ganta. Voting against: Deputy Mayor Kian and Chairman Lindner.

The Chairman and the Deputy Mayor voting together in the minority on a subdivision is uncommon enough to be worth noting.

Two weeks later, the housing plan was adopted

On February 25, 2026 the Planning Board adopted the Amended Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, with 8 members in favor.

Sarmad's testimony at that meeting put numbers on what the plan actually produces. The obligation is 262 units, of which many are credits. The closer figure for actual new affordable units is around 150, likely arising from approximately 500 total new units, at set asides of 25 to 30 percent on most sites against a 20 percent statewide minimum.

That distinction between the 262 unit obligation and roughly 150 new affordable units is the one most often lost in conversation about this. A credit reflects existing units or other qualifying activity, not new construction.

The three replacement sites named:

• 155 Washington Valley Road, known as the Firewood site
• 149 Washington Valley Road, known as Bardy Farms
• 41 Mountain Boulevard, the Village Square Mall, also referred to as the Chua property

My read

Author's opinion, kept separate. A 9-0 vote on an amendment that reduces building mass and requires no variance relief is the least surprising outcome available to that board. The Federal Reserve item is settled. The one to watch is Old Stirling Road, where three of four proposed lots fall short of a 3 acre minimum in a 3 acre zone, and where the two members who voted no hold the chair and the deputy mayor's seat.