NEWS

Fragrance firm withdraws plans for facility in Morris Plains

Peggy Wright
@PeggyWrightDR

MORRIS PLAINS - Mane USA, a French fragrance company that proposed building a manufacturing and research facility in the borough's limited industrial zone on American Road, has withdrawn its development application a week after a public outcry from borough and Hanover Township residents about fears of offensive odors.

Parcel in the limited industrial zone on American Road in Morris Plains where a fragrance company had proposed building a plant. The company has backed off its plan.

"It's terrible news, it's sad," Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler said Tuesday. Druetzler, who sits on the borough's planning board and would have heard Mane USA's application, said he spoke Monday with current property owner Joseph Forgione. Forgione, a principal in JMF at Morris Plains LLC, said that Mane USA broke its purchase contract for the 28-acre parcel on which three large, mostly vacant office buildings are located, Druetzler said.

Druetzler said he confirmed that Mane USA had withdrawn its planning board application with Mane USA Vice President of Human Resources Deborah E. Knighton. Representatives of Mane USA, including attorney Steven Mairella and Knighton, have not been immediately available for comment.

READ PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Residents say proposed Morris Plains fragrance plant stinks 

A portion of a crowd that turned out July 26 to hear about Mane USA's plans - now withdrawn - to build a manufacturing plant on American Road in Morris Plains.

The borough planning board was supposed to review Mane USA's application on Aug. 15 and then, in anticipation of a large public turnout, the hearing was postponed to Aug. 22. Now the application has been withdrawn. The government of neighboring Hanover Township, as well as some residents, opposed the plan because of the property's close proximity to the Trail Wood residential development.

"Trying to fill office space in Morris County is like finding a needle in a haystack," Druetzler said. "I hope somebody in Morris County welcomes the company. We had no official testimony and they withdrew before we got to first base."

As of Tuesday, a message was posted on the Hanover Township website that references Mayor Ronald Francioli and Patrick Sages, a Hanover resident, attorney and appointed public defender for the township who led a citizen opposition group called Concerned Citizens Against American Road (CCAR).

The Hanover website message says: "The township of Hanover is pleased to advise our residents that JMF Properties has notified the office of the mayor that the application to develop a fragrance company on the American Road within the borough of Morris Plains is officially withdrawn. Special thanks to the efforts of Mayor Francioli and Pat Sages, head of CCAR, and all the residents who united together and worked diligently over the past six weeks to successfully champion the concerns and rights of our residents from this proposed use."

Michel Mane, president of Mane USA, a French fragrance company that has withdrawn plans to build a research and manufacturing facility in Morris Plains.

Francioli said Tuesday that Hanover did have discussions in 2015 with Mane USA about the possibility of the company building a facility on a tract on Hanover Avenue that had been contaminated decades ago and remediated. Mane USA opted not to pursue building in Hanover but went to neighboring Morris Plains. Francioli said Mane USA's proposal was suitable for Hanover's industrial zone but township committee members are against a plant being built near a residential development in Morris Plains.

As residents had started mobilizing against the prospect of Mane USA relocating its current facility in Wayne to Morris Plains, Mane USA representatives, including President Michel Mane, held a community meeting on July 26 at the Wyndham Hamilton Park Hotel and Conference Center in Florham Park. A crowd of about 130 people turned out, some openly hostile to Mane USA and vowing a court battle.

Francioli said he was advised over the weekend by Joseph Forgione, the current property owner, that community opposition and Mane USA's desire to maintain a good public image and relations were deciding factors in the application withdrawal.

"I think the community meeting left a big impression that Mane was not an invited neighbor," said Francioli.

At the July 26 session, some residents shouted out remarks that Mane USA would wreck the neighborhood with noxious odors, destroy property values and potentially cause an explosion through the mixing of chemicals.

Mane USA representatives said that the Wayne facility had never received odor complaints and that reactive chemicals would not be mixed in Morris Plains. Mane had proposed tearing down 1000 American Road and replacing that office structure with a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing plant. Building 1100 would have been refurbished but retain its existing footprint, according to Mane's plans.

Michel Mane, the company's USA president, had explained that Mane has operated a fragrance facility on Demarest Drive in Wayne since 1986 and has never received an odor complaint in three decades nor had a serious injury occur on the premises. Other large Mane facilities are located in Ohio and Mexico, he said.

Mane said the Wayne building is outdated so that employees in Wayne and at administrative offices in Fairfield - totaling about 200 over the next decade - would be relocated to Morris Plains. Mane USA also is the recipient of a $7.6 million Grow New Jersey award bestowed by the state Economic Development Authority as an incentive to stay in the state.

   Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.