Survey: 63% of Residents Support Waterview Development

At the Parsippany council meeting earlier this week, the majority of people who spoke, opposed the proposed Waterview development. 

National Research Inc. conducted a telephone survey in Parsippany-Troy Hills and for the third time, the survey shows that the majority of residents would support the construction of a new Whole Foods Market and limited residential development on Waterview Plaza, according to Adam Geller, the President of National Research, Inc.

The ordinance rezones a tract of land in the Waterview complex, which currently is zoned for 259,000 square feet of office space and the proposal would rezone it for a 40,000 sq. ft. grocery store, 149,900 sq. ft other retail and 60 townhouses at about 2,500 sq. ft. per townhouse.

“The new Whole Food Center is good for Parsippany because we need jobs and the town needs the revenue,” said Parsippany resident Bob Grieb of Sprinkler Fitters Local 696.  “There are plenty of everyday people as well as carpenters, electricians and plumbers out there that need the work, and the stores will hire hundreds of people for the long-term.”   

“The new center requires the land to be rezoned from office to mixed use.  Presently, the vacancies in office buildings in Parsippany are at historic highs,” said the Morris County Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO

The survey collected answers from 300 Parsippany-Troy Hills residents from Sept. 8-9. Geller listed some key points from the poll in a memo dated Sept. 10:

• 63 percent of residents feel their property taxes are currently too high.  
  59 percent approve of allowing a Whole Foods market and other businesses and townhomes to be developed on the Waterview Plaza, off of Route 46. The question included “and the entire project would help provide over 1.1 million dollars annually in homeowner property tax relief and created 536 new jobs.”
• When asked “In general, do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Whole Foods?” 64 percent said favorable, 9 percent unfavorable, 21 percent Heard of/No Opinion/Don’t Know Enough About them, 4 percent never heard of Whole Foods and 1 percent refused to answer
• Support of the development project increases to 63 percent when residents learn that at least $22 million in property tax relief could be realized over the span of the project. 
  Just over six-in-10 residents (61 percent) believe elected officials should approve the necessary zoning changes for the project, so they could benefit from the tax relief and new jobs the project would create. 
  55 percent believe that elected officials would be wrong to turn down the project, thereby allowing a neighboring community to pass the project.
• 84 percent believe that Township officials ought to weigh the concerns of actually Parsippany residents when it comes to this project over the concerns of a resident in a nearby town, such as Mountain Lakes

Each elected official National Research Inc tested would see a significant net drop in support if they vote against the project:

• Mayor James Barbiero would experience a 19 point drop - 44 percent would be less likely to vote for him, while 25 percent would be more likely to.
• Council President Brian Stanton would experience a 18 point drop - 44 percent would be less likely to vote for him, while 26 percent would be more likely to.
• Council member Jonathan Nelson would experience a 12 point drop - 41 percent would be less likely to vote for him, while 29 percent would be more likely to.

The margin of error for this survey is +/- 5.66 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval.