George Jorn

Parsippany developer Woodmont Properties, LLC, withdrew its application to re-zone property on Birchwood Avenue in Cranford, prior to Tuesday night’s meeting of the Cranford Township Committee. Republican Anne Evans Estabrook had hoped to sell her sixteen-acre parcel of land to the firm, whose lawyer serves on her U.S. Senate exploratory committee.
The controversial re-zoning request was a political football in the Union County town, where for the past few months residents besieged Planning Board meetings and voiced disapproval of the developer’s proposed transformation of part of Birchwood from office space to residential.

Union County GOP Chairman Phil Morin and U.S. Senate candidate Anne Evans Estabrook stand in the middle of a controversial real estate development deal in Cranford that has become an issue in the race for Township Committee.

The County Chairman can’t give money to help at least one GOP candidate, because if he did, the candidate says he believes the money would leave him open to an attack of being a sell out -- and crush him politically.

Morin serves on Estabrook’s campaign exploratory committee – his early support surprised some Republicans because Union County Assemblyman Jon Bramnick is mulling a U.S. Senate bid -- but the fledgling candidate said Morin’s presence as the applicant’s attorney does not constitute a conflict.