O’Sullivanfor Mayor

John O’SullivanRepublican for Mayor

South Brunswick · Mayor · Nov. 3, 2026

A massive data center is being built in South Brunswick. Our neighbors said no.

East Brunswick and North Brunswick banned new data centers. Princeton officials urged the state to deny the air permit. South Brunswick is still writing the rules after construction began.

Comment to the DEP by Nov. 9Make your voting plan
John O'Sullivan
John O’SullivanRepublican for Mayor · South Brunswick

No data centers in our town

DEP comment period closes
Mon., Nov. 9
Early voting
Oct. 24 – Nov. 1
Election Day
Tue., Nov. 3

01The data center

No data centers in our town.

East Brunswick and North Brunswick said no. South Brunswick should too. As mayor, John will take every action the township has to protect residents.

Illustration: homes beside a 341,000 square foot data center with 12 diesel generators, crossed out with a red no symbol.NEIGHBORS341,000 SQ FT · 143 ACRES12 DIESEL GENERATORS IN THE DRAFT AIR PERMIT
Illustration, not to scale.
  • 341,000square feet on 143 acresOff Route 1 at 4405 Route 1, the former Princeton Nurseries site
  • 12emergency diesel generatorsIn the draft state air permit
  • 2neighboring towns banned new data centersEast Brunswick and North Brunswick
  • 2027when the township’s own rules arriveCarley says the data center ordinance will be adopted after the election

Why John says no

A 341,000-square-foot data center is rising on 143 acres off Route 1, on the former Princeton Nurseries site. Its draft state air permit covers 12 emergency diesel generators.

Our neighbors saw this coming. East Brunswick and North Brunswick banned new data centers. Princeton officials urged the state to deny the air permit.

South Brunswick did neither. The township’s rules for noise, backup power, water and setbacks are still being drafted. Mayor Carley says they won’t be adopted until 2027: after the election, and after construction began.

John’s position is simple: no more data centers in South Brunswick, and every action the township can take to protect the people who live next to this one.

What John will do [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

  • Ban new data centers

    Introduce an ordinance banning new data centers in South Brunswick, as East Brunswick and North Brunswick have done.

  • Oppose the diesel air permit

    Put the township on record urging the state DEP to deny the permit for 12 diesel generators, as Princeton officials did.

  • Strictest limits on the one being built

    Push for battery backup instead of diesel, enforceable noise limits, water-use limits and no generator runs during air quality alerts.

  • Monitor the air, publish the data

    Independent air monitoring near the site and public records of every hour the generators run.

  • Use every legal tool

    Review every approval, permit and agreement, and defend the ban if it is challenged in court.

  • Residents first

    A community benefits agreement and real buffers for the neighborhoods closest to Route 1.

The facts

  • The developer is Sentinel Data Centers. The project is under construction. The applicant on record was WRV Nurseries South Brunswick LLC.
  • The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is taking public comment through Nov. 9 on an air permit for the project’s 12 diesel backup generators.
  • The draft permit would bar running the generators during air quality alerts.
  • Princeton officials urged the DEP to deny the permit.
  • East Brunswick and North Brunswick have banned new data centers.
  • Industry press has reported that the site sits in a township redevelopment area. [CAMPAIGN TO CONFIRM from township redevelopment documents]

What the mayor says

Paraphrased from Mayor Carley’s Patch candidate profile, Oct. 12, 2026.

  • The township does not issue the air permit; the state does.
  • The project was a permitted use under a 2005 agreement among the township, Princeton University and the state. That deal preserved 214 acres as the Mapleton Preserve and zoned the remaining Route 1 land for office and commercial use.
  • Litigation over the approvals is pending.
  • He prefers batteries over diesel generators.
  • Water use is projected at the equivalent of 10 to 15 homes.
  • He supports an ordinance now being drafted, headed to the Planning Board and council in the first quarter of 2027.
  • Data centers have operated in town quietly for decades.

Questions for the mayor

  1. Why are standards for noise, backup power, water and setbacks being written only after construction began?

  2. Why wasn’t battery or hybrid backup power required as a condition of approval?

  3. Who pays if electricity or water demand rises? [CAMPAIGN: add only if sourced]

  4. Why was there no community benefits agreement before approval?

  5. Our neighbors banned new data centers. Why hasn’t South Brunswick?

Comment to the DEP by Nov. 9Make your voting plan

02Growth

Thousands of homes, one set of roads, one water system, one school district

Ten housing projects and a 2.7-million-square-foot warehouse are in the pipeline. Every one of them shares the same roads, pipes and classrooms.

  • 3,468homes in the pipeline3,384 approved, 84 proposed. 3,256 excluding 212 age-restricted.
  • ~2,500market-rate homesAbout 970 are affordable
  • 17,894new daily car tripsEstimate, from the housing alone
  • 4,342daily truck and car tripsEstimate, from a 2.7M sq ft warehouse at Ridge/Perrine Road
The pipeline at a glanceEach house ≈ 100 homes
  • Market-rate · about 2,500
  • Affordable · about 968
The pipeline, project by project
ProjectLocationHomesAffordableEst. trips/day
PPFRoute 130 / Friendship326841,694
RPMHenderson & Blackhorse177177841
Jaynarage-restrictedRoute 27 & Gateway2122121,001
American PropertiesRidge Rd & Schalks Crossing349722,578
Pulte HomesMajor Rd & Route 115230748
East Meadow EstatesSingle-family550519
South Brunswick CenterN. Umberland & Major1,8003608,550
Windsor Associatesnot yet approvedN. Umberland Way84n/a399
Princeton OrchardGriggs Dr & Route 52218427874
Lennar HomesRidge / Independence Way1296690
Housing total3,468968+17,894
Ridge Road warehouseRidge / Perrine Road2.7M sq ft4,342 trucks & cars

Trip counts are estimates, calculated by applying Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) trip-generation rates to each project’s land use and size. [CAMPAIGN: attach primary sources: planning board resolutions, court settlement, traffic studies]

2018

After the 2018 election, Carley said residents feared overcrowded schools and strained infrastructure from thousands of court-mandated apartments.

Since then

Roughly 3,000 more homes have moved forward. Carley now says 3,177 court-mandated units are on the way.

Sources: local press coverage of the 2018 election; Mayor Carley’s Patch candidate profile, Oct. 12, 2026. [CAMPAIGN: reconcile 3,177 vs. 3,468]

The courts require it. The township decides how.

Affordable housing is required by the courts. But the township decides how it gets built. South Brunswick Center pairs 360 affordable apartments with 1,440 market-rate ones.

Carley himself says municipally sponsored, 100% affordable projects are the smarter route. So why does the pipeline carry about 2,500 market-rate homes to deliver about 970 affordable ones?

Trucks and the Ridge Road warehouse

Carley says there will be no new warehouse zoning, and the truck weight-limit ordinance, Ordinance 2026-9, was adopted in September 2026. Residents have dealt with cut-through trucks for years.

What took so long, and what is the plan for the 2.7 million sq ft warehouse on Ridge Road?

See John’s planMake your voting plan

03Taxes

Who pays for the new students?

New homes bring new students. Here is our estimate of what that could mean for the school portion of your property tax bill, with the method shown in full.

Campaign estimate

+14.7%

estimated increase in the school portion of the property tax bill at full build-out, about $1,470 a year for an average home.

  1. 3,256 homes × 0.47non-age-restricted homes × school-age children per home = about 1,530 new students
  2. × $22,672per-pupil spending = $34.7M a year
  3. − $13.3Mestimated school tax paid by the new homes
  4. = $21.4M gap= 14.7% of the $145.9M local school levy
How to read this estimate
  • It is a planning estimate, not a budget.
  • It uses the average per-pupil cost for each new student.
  • It shows the effect at full build-out, not in a single year.
  • The district’s own demographer projects about 1,663 new students over a decade, a figure Carley himself cites. That is close to our estimate.
  • If some units pay reduced school taxes under PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreements, the gap would be larger.

[CAMPAIGN: add assessor data for “average home” and the source for the $13.3M]

Campaign estimateEach year at full build-out
Cost to educate about 1,530 new students
$34.7M
School tax paid by the new homes, and the gap
Gap $21.4M
$13.3M paid
  • Paid by the new homes
  • Gap, about 14.7% of the $145.9M school levy

The pressure is already here

From Mayor Carley’s Patch candidate profile, Oct. 12, 2026.

  • $10Mless state school aid a year than seven years ago
  • $4.53Mof surplus used in the 2026 municipal budget
  • $6.5M → $5.525Mstate transitional aid, 2025 to 2026
“Nobody can promise a frozen tax rate and untouched services at once.”
Charlie Carley, Patch candidate profile, Oct. 12, 2026

What is the plan when the one-time money runs out?

See John’s plan

04Accountability

Who benefits from growth? Voters deserve full disclosure

When a town approves thousands of homes, a warehouse and a data center, residents should be able to see who was in the room and on what terms.

The mayor’s profession

Mayor Carley is a licensed professional engineer and planner. He is president and principal engineer of Delaware-Raritan Engineering, which he founded in 2000. By his own description, the firm designs and reviews structures, site plans and infrastructure for governments and private clients across Central New Jersey.

He leads a township that has approved thousands of homes, a warehouse and a data center.

[CAMPAIGN TO CONFIRM against public records before publishing: whether the firm or its clients have ever appeared before South Brunswick boards or held township contracts]

Source: Mayor Carley’s Patch candidate profile, Oct. 12, 2026.

Fair questions for any mayor

  1. Has Mayor Carley’s firm, or any of its clients, ever had business before a South Brunswick board?

  2. Will he publish his financial disclosure statements?

  3. Will he recuse himself from any matter involving a client?

John’s pledge

Everything on the table, in public.

  • Publish his own financial disclosure
  • Recuse himself from any matter where he has a conflict
  • Post developer meetings and approvals online
  • Create a public Growth Ledger: every approved project, its impact on schools, traffic and water, and what each developer owes and has built

[CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

Water and infrastructure

On April 14, 2026, two water main breaks put the whole township under a boil-water advisory. Carley now promises more interconnections and a replacement schedule for old mains.

Why not sooner?

Source: Mayor Carley’s Patch candidate profile, Oct. 12, 2026.

See John’s planMake your voting plan

05John’s plan

Six commitments, starting on day one

Practical steps a mayor can actually take, written so you can check whether they got done.

  1. No data centers in our town

    Ban new data centers, as East and North Brunswick did. Oppose the diesel air permit, and hold the project already under construction to the strictest limits the law allows.

    [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

  2. Publish a Growth Ledger

    One public page for every approved project: homes, expected students, traffic and water impact, and what each developer owes and has actually built.

    [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

  3. Protect your tax bill

    A line-by-line budget review, a cap on one-time surplus, shared-service savings, and a public school-tax estimate before any new approval.

    [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

  4. Get trucks off neighborhood streets

    No new warehouse rezonings, real enforcement of weight limits, and a plan for the Ridge Road warehouse traffic.

    [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

  5. Safe, reliable water

    An independent audit of the water system, a public dashboard of test results, and a funded schedule to replace old mains.

    [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]

  6. An open door

    Quarterly town halls, with every question and answer posted online.

    [CAMPAIGN: John to confirm]
Comment to the DEP by Nov. 9Make your voting plan

06Meet John

He asked the questions from the audience first

John O'Sullivan

Before John O’Sullivan was ever elected, he spent more than ten years at Township Council meetings asking questions. In 2009, South Brunswick voters elected him to the Township Council.

  • Former Township Councilman
  • Environmental Commission vice-chair
  • Emergency response volunteer

From the record

  • Monmouth Junction resident who, as of 2012, had lived in South Brunswick with his wife and children for 22 years
  • Elected to the South Brunswick Township Council on Nov. 3, 2009
  • Former vice-chair of the Environmental Commission
  • Member of the Civilian Emergency Response Team
  • Named Member of the Year (2011) by the New Jersey Local Boards of Health Association
  • Military service
  • B.A., Tarkio College
  • Attended council meetings for more than 10 years, asking questions, before he was elected
  • Worked on traffic signs on Stouts Lane for students walking from the high school
  • Pushed to coordinate road and sewer work so streets aren’t dug up again and again
  • Served on a council that kept the tax rate flat in 2012

Source: John O’Sullivan’s Patch candidate profile (Aug. 10, 2012) and the campaign.

Make your voting planSee John’s plan

07Vote

Make your plan to vote

Pick the way you’ll vote and put it on your calendar. Every vote in a local race counts.

  1. Oct. 24 – Nov. 1Early votingIn person at county early-voting sites.
  2. Oct. 27Mail-in application deadlineLast day for the county to receive a mail-in ballot application sent by mail.
  3. Nov. 3Election DayPolls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mail ballots must be postmarked by 8 p.m.
Check your registration and polling place

Official information from the State of New Jersey at vote.nj.gov.

Get involved

Request a yard sign[CAMPAIGN: yard sign link or mailto]Donate[CAMPAIGN: donation link]

Share this