From ground-shaking earthquakes and a near-total solar eclipse to fears of a drone invasion, 2024 was a year of rare and unprecedented experiences in Morris County and the rest of North Jersey.
In between, more familiar but no less compelling issues − including a controversial affordable housing boom, massive redevelopment projects and a wave of generational family business closings − captured our attention. Each represented a radical transformation of local landscapes and left us wondering: What else will disappear in the new year, and what will arise in its place?
The compelling stories of 2024 by and large left plenty to be resolved in 2025. That includes major warehouse projects in Parsippany and Mount Olive, the fate of the huge Hercules munitions property in Roxbury, a contentious Parsippany mayoral race, a pair of lawsuits against Dover’s mayor and assault charges against a town councilman, a proposed $1 billion expansion by Morristown Medical Center and the case of 360 illegally felled trees in Kinnelon.
Morris County’s likely to be in the statewide and even national political spotlight, meanwhile, as local Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill seeks the Democratic nod for New Jersey governor in a crowded field.
An FBI timeline confirms that a story that captivated the nation began over the skies of Morris County. Shortly before Thanksgiving, local authorities acknowledged increasing reports of drones in the skies at night. Authorities began investigating after sightings were confirmed near the Picatinny Arsenal military base.
By early December, drone conspiracy theories exploded, with national news outlets descending on North Jersey while members of Congress fumed over the lack of clear updates from the FBI and FAA.
Other elected leaders politicized the mystery – many blaming Gov. Phil Murphy. Late-night TV hosts made fun of the furor while others warned about the increasing infiltration of technology in our society and the need to update laws to protect safety and privacy.
While federal authorities eventually said the vast majority of sightings were actually planes or legally operated drones, the issue still drones on. A New Jersey Facebook page dedicated to solving the mystery is still operating, with more than 82,000 followers.
We’re used to occasional floods and droughts in the region − and saw more of both in 2024. But few of us were prepared for the most powerful earthquake to hit New Jersey in 240 years.
The magnitude 4.8 quake struck near Tewksbury on April 5 and was felt throughout the tri-state area. In Morris County, it was blamed for a water main break in Randolph and a gas leak that forced the shutdown of county offices in Morristown.
In the end, damage was minimal from the tremor – and its dozens of aftershocks – but New Jersey residents got a startling reminder of how little we actually control.
Mother Nature showed a destructive streak in 2024. January brought extreme rains that flooded parts of Lincoln Park, Denville, Pequannock and other towns. Above-average rain followed for months before a stubborn drought settled in in late summer, with signs of relief arriving only in the last few weeks.
North Jersey had less than an inch of precipitation in September and experienced the driest October in recorded history. Meteorological fall — September, October and November — was also the most parched on record.
The drought bred wildfires that spread across New Jersey in the fall. One of the first ignited in Rockaway Township, where the damage was limited to 200 acres. But larger fires broke out in Pompton Lakes and West Milford, the latter extending across the New York border and burning thousands of acres. One volunteer firefighter was killed battling a blaze in Sterling Forest, New York.
New Jersey recorded 1,380 wildfires − consuming more than 10,000 acres − in 2024, with 12 “major” wildfires (defined as those that burned more than 100 acres).
While wildfires torched trees in North Jersey, two Kinnelon homeowners faced penalties for illegal tree cullings of their own designs, allegedly to improve the views from their expansive properties.
In February, Grant Haber pleaded guilty in municipal court to hiring contractors to cut 32 of his neighbor’s trees. The plea ended a case that achieved viral notoriety online.
Haber was fined more than $13,000, but prosecutors suggested he could face more than $1 million in restitution costs. His neighbor eventually reached a settlement with Haber’s insurance company but terms were not publicly disclosed.
Another borough resident, Vincenzo Polise, also ended up in court after ordering the removal of more than 300 trees below his hilltop home − including some on environmentally protected land near the Butler Reservoir. Polise’s case is still in Kinnelon Municipal Court, where a settlement is pending.
The court-ordered mandate for New Jersey towns to provide more affordable housing has led to a wave of development in recent years. It kept rolling in 2024, with thousands of residential units opening or under construction throughout the county.
Some projects like the huge PARQ development in Parsippany were designed to solve another problem by replacing the town’s glut of vacant office complexes. But others, like an enclave that took over a forested hillside in Denville, enraged residents who complained about the loss of open space, increased traffic and school overcrowding.
Advocates touted growth in the supply of low- and moderate-income housing in New Jersey. But some local officials said they were fed up with a process that often grants approvals for hundreds of market-rate units as long as developers build a smaller portion of affordable housing along with it.
By early December, 25 towns − including East Hanover, Hanover, Mendham and Wharton in Morris County − had joined a lawsuit seeking to pump the brakes on the state mandate, which will continue with new quotas in 2025.
Madison officials, backed by environmentalists and a grassroots community organization, joined forces in what appears to be a successful bid to preserve most of the 53-acre, environmentally-sensitive forest around Drew University.
After years of negotiations − including a court battle between Madison and the school − the borough signed a landmark deal in November to preserve the land. Drew had sought to sell to a developer to fund the university’s future operations. But millions in county and federal grants helped seal a deal. Terms were not disclosed, but one estimate valued Drew Forest at $65 million.
As the e-commerce industry grows, along with its need for smart warehouses and distribution centers, Morris County has seen its share of warehouse construction and approvals for more.
Many hug the Route 80 corridor, including a 585,000-square-foot facility in Mount Olive that is replacing the former BASF world headquarters. The same developer is building another 200,000-square-foot facility nearby.
Others are being squeezed into smaller properties and closer to downtown areas, including one off Parsippany Road that was approved over loud opposition from local residents.
Elsewhere, some towns pushed back, including Roxbury, where a developer abandoned a proposal to build 2.5 million square feet of warehouse space on the former Hercules factory property.
Hartz Mountain withdrew its application after wrangling for more than a year with the Roxbury Planning Board, which stuck to its current zoning restrictions. As of year’s end, the owner still hadn’t announced its next move for the 900-acre tract, believed to be the biggest developable parcel left in Morris County.
No Morris County town has seen more redevelopment over the past 20 years than Morristown. A stunning amount of additional construction is proposed for 2025 and beyond.
While planning continues for a multimillion-dollar expansion of the Morris County Courthouse and county offices, Morristown Medical Center recently announced a nearly $1 billion proposal to expand its facilities − including a potential 11-story tower.
Late in the year, the town also unveiled a proposal to replace vacant buildings on the Park Place side of the Morristown Green, including the shuttered Century 21 department store. The Mayo Performing Arts Center also announced ambitious expansion plans that would add a parking deck, new dressing rooms and storage to allow bigger touring productions at the 87-year-old theater on South Street.
Some of our best-read stories of 2024 profiled the closure of generational family businesses in Morris County, as they fell victim to competition from Amazon, big-box-retailers and rising costs.
Readers paid tribute to beloved institutions such as the West Side Diner in Denville, which closed in July after decades and may face the wrecking ball. In Parsippany, Cerbo’s Lumber and Hardware ended operations after 76 years, with owner Cathy Cerbo saying “it was time.”
The Cerbo property, along with others along Route 46 in the center of town, have been purchased by a single developer intent on revitalizing that commercial corridor. One property saw the opening of a Chick-fil-A in May. Four more Route 46 office buildings were recently demolished with plans to construct a Topgolf entertainment center.
In Boonton Township, ironworker Bernard “Bud” Knudsen closed Tringali Iron Works, his 30-year-old studio along the Rockaway River. The shop was a continuation of a century-old family business that started in the Tribeca section of New York and played a role in the growth of 20th-century Manhattan. In Dover, the popular Jai-Alai restaurant announced it would shut for good after a devastating fire.
Some business struggles had happy endings. An online fundraiser helped Bill’s Luncheonette collect enough money to renovate its 75-year-old storefront in Chester Township. In Randolph, two “angel investors” stepped up to save another beloved family business, Burrini’s Olde World Market.
Denville Hardware closed after 77 years but was taken over by another longtime local family business, Ricciardi Brothers.
The race for the only full-time mayor’s office in Morris County in some ways began with the 2021 election of Justin Musella to the Parsippany Council. Since taking office in 2022, Musella has repeatedly clashed with three-term Mayor James Barberio, setting up a seemingly inevitable showdown in the 2025 Republican primary.
The race has already gotten testy.
Musella, 32, made it official last June, announcing his run for mayor before a crowd of about 150 including state Senator and gubernatorial candidate Jon Bramnick, who praised his “fresh ideas.” Musella also received backing from several board of education members and Morris County Republican Committee Chair Laura Ali, who dissed Barberio as “the highest-paid and least-qualified mayor in Morris County.”
Barberio dismissed Musella as a “carpetbagger politician trying to use us as a stepping stone for higher office.” He also took to the airwaves on several occasions, taking aim at Musella in radio interviews with conservative morning host Bill Spadea, himself a likely GOP candidate for governor in 2025.
As hot as politics were in Parsippany, they were singing in Dover as Mayor James Dodd shook up town hall after returning to office in January.
Dodd pushed for sweeping changes including a new town clerk and attorney, and he clashed with both Police Chief Jonathan Delaney and then-town administrator BettyLou DeCroce, a former state assemblywoman. All three were caught up in a controversy that followed the arrest of first-term Councilman Sergio Rodriguez, a Dodd ally.
Rodriguez was arrested by Dover police in February, after he allegedly accosted three homeless men he said were drinking alcohol in public. Delaney was reprimanded after responding forcefully to Rodriguez’s criticisms of the police department. In August, an arbiter ruled in the chief’s favor and ordered the reprimand rescinded. The next month, Rodriguez was charged with another altercation in downtown Dover.
DeCroce, meanwhile, was fired by Dodd for what the mayor termed her “incompetence.” Dodd also blamed DeCroce for disciplining Delaney. A lawsuit filed by DeCroce on Christmas Eve told a different story, alleging she wrote the reprimand only after Dodd demanded the chief’s suspension, an act the town attorney said would be illegal.
DeCroce’s lawsuit said Dodd and the town council “eviscerated” her rights and violated state whistleblower laws. Dodd fired back that DeCroce was a “cancer” on town government and “inept” and “dysfunctional” to boot. Dodd was hit with another lawsuit in December from Dover’s former health official, who said she was driven out of her job by the mayor’s “unlawful objectives and toxic masculinity.”
Both cases, as well as Rodriguez’s assault charges, are pending, promising more fireworks in 2025.
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com
Twitter/X: @wwesthoven
