Planners Eye Traffic, Pollution Issues for Proposed Cleaners

After an over two-hour meeting on Thursday, Aug. 26, the Planning Board had not yet decided whether or not to approve the construction of a new cleaners in a vacant lot on South Street.

Grace Lee, speaking for father Jong Hoon Park, owner of Golden Cleaners, on Washington Street, spoke before the Planning Board about the family's proposed move to a new location, which would be built on a vacant lot at 130 South St. 

Lee, who also works at the cleaners, said the family did not have a choice but to move from their current location, which they have occupied for 23 years. "The lease tripled," she said. "It's just way too expensive."

The new space would occupy 3,465 square feet, larger than the cleaners' current 2,650 square-foot location. Despite the increased size, Lee told the Planning Board that a previous plan to purchase an additional cleaning machine, bringing the cleaners number of main cleaning machines to two, had been nixed, and that the primary reason for the move was not to expand but because there was no other option.

Still, Planning Board members expressed concerns with the proposed relocation.

Mayor Timothy Dougherty, who sits on the Board, expressed concern with a new cleaners in close proximity to two existing cleaners, A&L Tailoring Dry Cleaners on the other side of the road and Morristown Cleaners on the same side.

"What's a good use," Dougherty asked. "There's a cleaners 20 yards down and another 150 yards down. Do you think it's a good use?"

Robert J. Nish, the attorney representing Golden Cleaners, replied, "Is it a permitted use? How many banks do we have that everyone objects to?"

Several board members, including Stefan Armington and board Chairman Michael Pooler, worried that the larger store would result in larger pollution from various chemicals used at the business to clean clothes.

Merwin Kinkade, an environmental consultant, told the board the family business had stopped using perchloroethylene, more commonly known as perc, which has been labeled a dangerous carcinogen, seven years ago. Golden Cleaners had switched to a hydrocarbon method of cleaning clothes, which is considered safer, whose byproducts are self-contained and removed by a licensed waste hauler. 

Kinkade added that 99.9-percent of the cleaning solution used in the machine is filtered and reused. 

Pooler also expressed concerns about a traffic study conducted by Harold Maltz, a licensed engineer in New Jersey, which stated there would be a minimal traffic increase by allowing the cleaners to be built and have 15 available spaces.

"I really disagree with you," Pooler said in response to Maltz's study indicating traffic on South Street is light to moderate, depending on the direction and time of day. "One of the major issues we have here is traffic."

"It's intermittent along the roadway," Maltz said. "The data is inputed into a computer. I can only tell you, I was out there for these three occasions. In the grand scheme of things, this will not have a measurable impact.

"This is now a vacant piece of property. It's not going to sit fallow forever," he said. "It could be a restaurant. There's lots of restaurants, and those would generate more traffic."

The hearing continues at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Town Hall.