By Michael Lovito
The Morris Plains planning board on Monday finalized its approval of a controversial McDonald’s drive-through on Speedwell Avenue and Dayton Road.
But residents opposed to the project got some measure of satisfaction, when Suzanne McCluskey, the board chair who presided over last year’s tense hearings, lost the gavel by a 6-3 vote.
Taking her place is Michael Garavaglia, who will be joined by John Bezold as vice chair.
The votes fell along familiar lines: All four of the returning board members who voted against approving the McDonald’s application (Garavaglia, Bezold, Steve Augenblick and Ron Kelly) supported Garavaglia, while the three who voted for the Golden Arches (McCluskey, Marianne Steckert and Mayor Jason Karr) voted to re-elect McCluskey.
Notably, the other two board members who voted last month to approve the drive-through did not return to the board.
Karr replaced former Mayor Frank Druetzler with Andrew Wolff. And Cathie Kelly was supplanted as council liaison by Bill Houston, a vocal opponent of the McDonald’s project who defeated Kelly in November’s council election. Both Wolff and Houston voted for Garavaglia over McCluskey.
Garavaglia’s victory and McCluskey’s defeat were applauded by about 50 residents in attendance at the Morris Plains Community Center. Some wore t-shirts reading “plant better trees,” a slogan inspired by a Stoic proverb that became a rallying cry for McDonald’s opponents.
“I want to thank the planning board for their vote of confidence,” Garavaglia said in his first statement as board chair. “I vow to make the most of this opportunity and work for the Borough of Morris Plains to do the best job I possibly can.”
“WHAT DO YOU ALL DO FOR WORK?”
After the board finished its reorganization, the floor was opened for public comment. Most of the speakers used this time for parting shots at the McDonald’s project, before the board voted on a resolution approving the application.
Some, like Lisa Schroeder, also took aim at board members and board professionals.
“I wanted to commend the board for voting in Mr. Garavalgia as the new chair,” Schroeder said. “Thank you all for demonstrating to the town that we deserve someone in that seat that will treat residents with the respect that they deserve.”
Any ambiguity surrounding Schroeder’s feelings on McCluskey was dispelled when she criticized board attorney Andrew Brewer for legal advice he provided during the McDonald’s hearings.
“I know that you had a very aggressive chairperson breathing down your neck, but you have an obligation to the town and to the residents to deliver accurate legal advice,” Schroeder said.
Other residents tried to suggest ways to improve future meetings. Nancy Mirabelle suggested board members be prevented from looking at their phones during testimony, which Garavaglia and Karr both were amenable to.
Carolyn Bennett asked if members who fell asleep during meetings could be prevented from voting, which Brewer advised wasn’t legally feasible.
But McDonald’s opponents used more of their time re-litigating issues from more than 25 hours of testimony in 2024.
Bennett, who lives on Dayton Road, expressed her concern about increased traffic on the street and the effects of impending construction on her children’s health.
She also claimed she and other spectators felt “intimidated” by comments from the McDonald’s team at the end of some meetings. She had asked Karr for an increased police presence at the Community Center on the night the application was approved.
Paul Clolery showed the board a realtor’s flier that has been placed in residential mailboxes near the McDonald’s site, offering information on “how recent zoning changes in our town could impact the value of your home.”
“A home is the largest investment most people ever make in their life,” Clolery said. “The council passing the zoning into law, and this board approving the license to McDonald’s, is damaging the investments of people in this community.”
Tom Battagliese, who testified against the application as an expert in environmental issues, asked the board to “get some more clarity” about what air and noise pollution tests would be conducted before the drive-through opens.
He also suggested an existing ordinance would prevent McDonald’s delivery trucks from exiting onto Dayton.
Karl Ring asked if it would be possible to dead-end Dayton to decrease traffic. When Karr advised him to reach out to the council, Ring expressed frustration.
“It sounds like the outcome of all of this is that the responsibility and the onus is now on us as citizens to police this town and these businesses,” Ring said. “What do you all do for work?”
“DO IT YOUR WAY”
Even the approval of past meeting minutes, typically a rote formality, was fodder for a testy exchange between board members.
Ron Kelly asked to correct the record from the Dec. 18, 2024, meeting, taking issue with comments McCluskey made that implied the Master Plan Review Committee “proposed” a drive-through restaurant be constructed in the zone where McDonald’s is going.
He also pointed out that McCluskey misstated the date on which the council approved the master plan review.
McCluskey admitted she misspoke and that the master plan review was approved in 2022, not in 2021, as she previously stated. But Kelly contended the approval actually took place in 2023, which sparked a prickly back and forth between her and Kelly.
“I have it right in front of me, Sue. Maybe go and speak to (town planner Elizabeth Leheny) because she said it was 2023,” Kelly said. “I don’t know where you’re talking from.”
“Ron, if you want me to prove it to you, I will, but we’re talking about the minutes here tonight, not about this discussion that you and I are having,” McCluskey replied.
“Do it your way, Sue,” Kelly said.
“MANY, MANY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE”
Tension also was evident between the past and current chairs of the board. While discussing an application pertaining to a residential property on Mountain Way, Garavaglia asked McCluskey if she agreed with a waiver that Leheny proposed granting.
“I would always, always go along with the recommendation of our planner,” McCluskey said. “That’s why we hire her.”
“We do,” Garavaglia agreed. “But we’ve also heard a lot of comments on a lack of, and I’m not saying that there was, but part of —”
“In my experience, which is many, many years of experience, we would definitely defer to the planner,” McCluskey said, cutting of Garavaglia and prompting mild groans from the crowd.
As the last item of business, Brewer read the resolution formally approving the McDonald’s application. Summarizing testimony from seven meetings between September and December, Brewer read aloud for 45 uninterrupted minutes, after which Garavaglia asked the three remaining pro-McDonald’s board members to vote for its approval.
The resolution passed 3-0.
The next Morris Plains planning board meeting, on Feb. 10, 2025, will be the board’s first at the Morris Plains Municipal Building since last August. It also will be its first meeting since May 13, 2024, without a McDonald’s-related item on the menu.
FULL COVERAGE OF THE McDONALD’S HEARINGS
