National Land Developers officially withdraws warehouse plan

National Land Developers, LLC has officially terminated its agreement to purchase property between I-84 and Route 6 that would have been the home of a proposed mega-warehouse (those above 400,000 square feet), the company announced in a formal letter issued to the town on December 7.

The plan faced much opposition from residents concerned about the impact it would have on the aquifer underneath the location. Those opposed to the project launched website and social media campaigns against it. There were threats of lawsuits if approved. Road signs could even be seen in the general area of the proposed project, along Route 209 and other parts of town.

The NLD’s initial plan was to build a 435,000-square-foot warehouse with 58 loading docks, 178 parking spaces on 44.8 acres at 247 Route 6, Milford. While the developers did not have a tenant for the warehouse, the plan included a post-construction estimate of as many as 110 jobs.

Regarding sewage and wastewater runoff, the firm LVL Engineering had estimated that the site would discharge roughly 3,900 gallons of treated sewage per day. “The effluent will then travel through the upper soil mantle to the water table which is estimated to be 15 to 20 feet below the sewage disposal area,” according to a report issued by LVL Engineering earlier this year. “After passing through this natural filter media, the treated effluent will mix with the water table and flow along the surface of the aquifer and into a mostly open herbaceous wetland.” The warehouse would have also featured a 6,350-gallon septic tank and an onsite water storage tank of 180,000 to 260,000 gallons that LVL said would not be taken from the aquifer.

Aside from water, residents also voiced concerns about the increase in potential truck traffic. While NLD said its traffic would be relegated to I-84, locals noted that, aside from police, nothing would stop a truck from traveling through village roadways.

In July of this year, Milford Borough Trustee Joe Dooley was quoted as saying, “[National Land Developers] don’t tell truck drivers how to go... They’ll go from I-80 to Route 15 to Route 6 and then up the hill” in the borough. NDL had acknowledged at that time that a small amount of truck traffic from this site would provide local deliveries to Milford Borough, and that “a very small number of drivers coming to or from the project site will break the law and drive into or through Milford Borough. Aggressive law enforcement should be able to control and limit the number of violations.”

NLD isn’t the only company to back out of a deal for that parcel of land. As previously reported, in the late 1980s a shopping mall eyed the location but failed to break ground. Then in the 1990s, a short-lived mining operation closed down after damaging the aquifer. And in 2000, plans for a Home Depot there were also shot down.