Bristol-Myers building move-in denied

The Planning Board has denied Hillside Office Park LLC’s bid to lease the former Bristol-Myers Research and Development building on Liberty Avenue.

The building has been the center of a recent controversy because the site is on contaminated land and the township allowed the new owners to move in without first going through the Planning Board.

The board voted 4 to 3 to deny the owner’s bid to bring in more tenants because the owners wanted to break ground to improve the parking lot and the firm couldn’t answer some of the board’s questions, board chairwoman Myrna Weissman said.

But board member Joseph Menza, who voted in favor of Hillside Office Park, said the denial is not good for Hillside’s economy.

“They did everything they were told to do,” he said of the current and former owners. “They’re already in there. What’s wrong with having tenants while they’re already cleaning anyway?”

But Weissman said the cleanup of all the carcinogen pollution could take 16 to 22 months and officials could not tell the board what type of chemicals once passed through the building’s former laboratories.

The board is siding with Mayor Karen McCoy-Oliver against the Township Council. And the firm representing the owners, Weiner Lesniak, is headed by state Sen. Ray Lesniak, a Union County power broker.