ProtectEdison Give to the appeal

One block of Inman Avenue. Eight years in front of the Zoning Board.

The outlined land is zoned for single-family homes. CareOne, a company with more than 60 locations, has spent eight years trying to put a large facility here. The Board said no twice, then approved a revised plan on October 13, 2026. We live along the property line, and we're appealing.

Give to the appeal fund Watch the story (2 min)

Aerial: NJ Office of GIS, 2020. Outline: application lots from NJ parcel data.

Most neighbors haven't heard the whole story.

It started in 2018 and has been through a federal lawsuit. This video covers it in just over two minutes, with captions.

  1. 2018State approval
  2. 2019Denied
  3. 2020Lawsuit
  4. 2024Ruling
  5. Jul 2026Denied
  6. Oct 2026Approved
  7. NextAppeal

How we got here

Every date below comes from public records: board decisions, state filings and the federal court docket.

  1. The site1330–1350 Inman Avenue

    About 10 acres on Inman Avenue, a 40 mph county road. It sits beside the existing CareOne at the Highlands nursing facility and backs onto the homes of King Street, Louis Court and Hemlock Drive. The zoning is R-A, single-family residential.

    Inman Ave and Old Raritan Rd, where neighbors sit in backups at rush hour Residential streets next to the site

  2. 2018NJ Department of Health

    Issued

    The State issues a Certificate of Need for a 106-bed assisted living residence on the property. That's a state health approval. Local zoning is a separate question for the Township.

  3. Dec 17, 2019Edison Zoning Board of Adjustment

    Denied, unanimously

    After six hearings, the Board unanimously turns down a 3-story, 106-bed assisted living plan. Its concerns were the building's visual impact, noise from the generator and trash enclosure, and traffic. The decision is put in writing in May 2020.

  4. Jun 30, 2020U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey

    Lawsuit filed

    CareOne sues Edison in federal court under the Fair Housing Act.

    Case 2:20-cv-07976

  5. Mar 27, 2024U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey

    Ruling

    A federal judge rules that Edison's zoning code violates the Fair Housing Act because it allows assisted living in no residential zone. Whether a building this size is necessary is left for trial.

    CareOne at Birchwood v. Township of Edison

  6. Jul 7, 2026Edison Zoning Board of Adjustment

    Denied, unanimously

    To settle the lawsuit, CareOne brings a 114-unit, 122-bed memory care version. The Board denies it unanimously, citing no safe way to walk along Inman Avenue, no updated traffic report, no updated noise report and no updated planning testimony.

  7. Oct 13, 2026Edison Zoning Board of Adjustment

    Approved

    The Board approves a revised version: still 114 units and 122 beds, stepping down to 2 stories near Louis Court and the east side. The generator and trash area move to the west side, and a sidewalk is added on Inman Avenue. Footprint 37,447 sq ft; 95,059 sq ft in total, including the basement. That's about one and a half times the ShopRite on Route 1.

  8. NextEdison Township Council

    Our appeal

    The Board publishes its written resolution. From that day, neighbors have 10 days to appeal to the Township Council. We've retained an attorney and we're raising the money now.

    Give to the appeal fund

One company. One street of neighbors.

CareOne

  • 60+locations in five states, by its own count
  • 32of them in New Jersey
  • ~$40Msought from Edison in federal court, as reported in the news
  • 8 yearsof hearings, lawsuits and lawyers to build on this block

Inman Avenue Neighbors

  • Familieson King Street, Louis Court, Hackett Drive and Hemlock Drive
  • Volunteersorganizing on nights and weekends
  • $10,000to raise from neighbors to pay for one appeal
  • 10 daysto file it once the Board publishes its decision
Give to the appeal fund

Sources: CareOne press release (Oct 2023) and company website; news coverage of the July 2026 hearing.

What the Board approved

A memory care building next to the existing nursing facility, on land zoned for houses. It needed a use variance plus bulk variances.

Size
114 units · 122 beds
Height
Up to 3 stories, 2 near Louis Court
Footprint
37,447 sq ft
Total floor area
95,059 sq ft
Zone
R-A, single-family
Location
1330–1350 Inman Avenue · Block 410 · Case #Z46-2017

What CareOne asked for: an exception to the rules

Edison's zoning lets this land be used for single-family homes. Everyone who owns land here lives by that. CareOne asked the Board to set the rules aside for them, with a "d(1)" use variance: permission for a use the zone doesn't allow at all.

On top of that, it asked for exceptions to how much of the lot can be covered, how big the building can be for the land, how tall it can be and how many stories it can have.

A use variance is supposed to be hard to get. It takes at least 5 yes votes on the Board, and the Board twice said no.

Lot numbers on the State parcel map (11.03, 28.01, 30, 31) differ from those in the application (27, 28, 30, 31, 11.C).

Aerial photo of the existing CareOne building and the wooded application lots along Inman Avenue, with the lot lines outlined
NJ Office of GIS, 2020 aerial · lot lines: NJ parcel data

How big is 95,059 square feet?

That's about one and a half times the floor space of the ShopRite on Route 1, the supermarket by Old Post Road. And its footprint, 37,447 sq ft, is nearly as big as the one-story CareOne nursing home already next door (about 43,000 sq ft), but it rises up to three stories.

Proposed building figures are from the applicant's testimony at the October 13 hearing. ShopRite size is from a published store tour; the nursing home footprint is measured from mapped building outlines (approximate).

We already live with this traffic.

Anyone who drives Inman Avenue or Old Raritan Road at rush hour knows the backups. A facility this size adds staff shifts, visitors, deliveries and emergency vehicles to the same curve of road. It will add to the traffic.

  1. The streets around the site

    The neighbors closest to it

    Homes on King Street, Louis Court, Hackett Drive and Hemlock Drive back onto or sit right beside the site. Inman Avenue and Old Raritan Road, in red, are how most of us get in and out every day.

  2. Old Raritan Rd at Inman Ave · Tue, July 7, 2026, 6:17 PM

    We all know this backup.

    This is a weekday evening, stopped on the way to Inman Avenue. A bigger building on the same corner adds staff, visitors, deliveries and emergency vehicles to it.

  3. Turning in and out on a curve

    Inman Avenue is a 40 mph county road, and it bends right at the site. Drivers coming around that curve meet cars slowing to turn in, or pulling out into traffic. The plan's new sidewalk puts people on foot beside that same road. We want an independent safety study of sight lines and turns before anything is built.

  4. School-hour traffic

    School buses, school drop-off and pickup, and NJ Transit buses already use these roads at the busiest times of day. A large facility's staff shift changes can land at those same hours.

  5. A commercial generator, not a home backup

    This isn't the kind of generator you'd see beside a house. It's an industrial unit sized to power a 122-bed building, in an enclosure between the two CareOne buildings.

    CareOne's own noise study modeled it at 75 decibels at 23 feet, about as loud as running a vacuum cleaner. At the homes along the north property line it predicted 53 dBA, against a background measured there today of 45 to 49 dBA.

    That gap sounds small, but decibels are logarithmic: every 10 dB is ten times the sound energy. Going from 45–49 up to 53 means about 2.5 to 6 times as much sound energy, which the ear hears as roughly 30% to 75% louder. Generators like this are run regularly for testing, and in an outage they run for as long as the power is out.

    Source: CareOne's acoustical testimony, Oct 13, 2026 hearing, at about 1:50

  6. Ambulances, deliveries and trash trucks

    Emergency vehicles at any hour, delivery trucks, early-morning trash pickup and parking-lot lights, all close to houses. We want firm limits on hours and noise, and screening that still works in winter.

  7. Where the stormwater goes

    Much of this land is woods today. Roofs and pavement send more water downhill, so neighbors need clear, enforceable protection for their yards and for the road.

  8. Money for a road Edison doesn't control

    At the October 13 hearing, CareOne's attorney offered on the record to donate $100,000 to the Township for traffic studies and improvements. The Board then voted the plan down, 4 to 2, and a motion to adjourn passed.

    The Board went back into a closed session. When it returned, a board member announced the offer was now up to $350,000 for traffic improvements, and on a new roll call the plan was approved.

    But Inman Avenue is County Route 602, not a township road. A check to the Township doesn't widen the road, add a turn lane or fix the curve.

    Source: Oct 13, 2026 hearing recording, Edison TV, about 3:16 to 3:23

We're not against memory care. Edison needs it, and it should be built. This site is the wrong place for a building this size.

A wooded residential block on a curve of a 40 mph county road, already backed up at rush hour. Our objection is about traffic, safety, noise and water, the same concerns the Board raised in 2019 and again in July. It has nothing to do with who would live there. Inman Avenue Neighbors

Fund the appeal

An appeal to the Township Council costs about $9,000, and we're raising $10,000 to cover surprises. It has to be filed within 10 days of the Board publishing its decision, so the money needs to be ready first.

Deadline: 10 days after the Board publishes its written decision. It hasn't been published yet, so the clock hasn't started.

How to give

We're setting up the best way for neighbors to contribute. To give or pledge now, email [email protected] and we'll reply with the details.

Where the money goes (estimates)
AttorneyPrepares and files the formal notice of appeal$6,000
Meeting transcriptThe official record of the October 13 hearing$1,500
Township filing feeSet by ordinance$1,500
Cushion for added costsExtra attorney time, copies and notices if the appeal runs longer$1,000
Goal$10,000

Show up. Your voice matters.

Mark your calendar

Edison Township Council meeting

When
Monday, October 26, 2026, 6:00 PM
Where
Edison Municipal Complex, 100 Municipal Boulevard, Edison
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Come and make your voice heard on the CareOne development and the recent Zoning Board proceedings. This isn't only a few homes' problem: it affects traffic, safety and how decisions get made for the whole township.

The more residents who show up, the clearer it is that Edison is paying attention.

Give to the appeal fund