We, the undersigned, ask that the State of New Jersey's Department of Transportation, REJECT the application submitted by Florham Park Development LLC for approval of a Helistop to be built on the property designated as 1 Jets Drive in Florham Park.

Four years ago the Jets, on behalf of owner Woody Johnson, the recently appointed U.S. Ambassador to Britain, filed an application with the local municipality, but withdrew it under pressure from nearby residents. Now, Mr. Johnson and his organization, through this new LLC, are trying to boldly circumvent lawful zoning expressions and local interests by applying directly to the state for a helistop license without exhausting the requisite municipal land use hearing process. Additionally, within the new application filed with the state, they have submitted as support documentation that is over four years old, seemingly from their prior application!

This helistop license application does not mention the intense commercial and residential development that has and is occurring on that old Exxon property where the helistop will be located. Additionally, the flight patterns proposed stop short once they effectively reach the Jets’ property line, and makes no mention of the helicopters’ movements as they approach and depart the surrounding neighborhoods.

The helistop will add significant and unnecessary noise pollution to the adjacent neighborhoods in Madison and Florham Park, and create a unavoidable safety hazard for the residents as well as the children who use the Madison Recreation Complex, Madison High School and the Florham Park Middle School, all of which are in the immediate mile from the proposed take-off and landing location.

Although the facility has already been operational for ten years, Ambassador Johnson and his organization now assert that they “need” this helistop to transport him and “their executives,” anticipating over 1,000 trips a year, day and night! However, they also fail to mention the fact that there is a perfectly adequate helicopter facility at Morristown Municipal Airport, which is merely 1 mile away.

They also assert their "need" to be able to transport possible injured athletes. Morristown Memorial Hospital has its own helistop for emergencies and is 5 minutes away by ambulance.

Given the reasons above, this request is wholly unwarranted and should be rejected. This area has seen a significant increase in air traffic, and we now have the President of the United States landing at Morristown Airport many weekends. Another aircraft facility that close by is a disaster waiting to happen.

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