Egg Harbor Township may open a community for disabled veterans (UPDATE)
Last Updated on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 12:56 pm Written by Laura Stetser Tuesday, March 26, 2013 01:39 pm
Planning board to consider the matter tonight; public hearing is Wednesday
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - An affordable housing project geared toward disabled veterans is slated to be constructed along Cottonwood Avenue near West Jersey Avenue, Egg Harbor Township officials announced Friday, March 22.
In the statement released Friday by Mayor James “Sonny” McCullough, the project would be a multi-family attached housing community on six acres of land.
“This is the least Egg Harbor Township can do for those who have given so much,” stated McCullough. “In addition it provides the opportunity for Egg Harbor Township to meet our obligation to affordable housing.”
The township entered into an agreement with Renewable Jersey at Egg Harbor LLC to develop a 70-unit rental building. The property will feature two- and three-bedroom residences with “the purpose of assisting veterans to get back to everyday life,” according to the statement. In order to make the project a permitted use at this location, a new zone section must be added, a detail also address in the ordinance.
The ordinance was first introduced as an unadvertised add-on to the Feb. 27 Township Committee meeting agenda. The minutes from the Feb. 27 meeting are not yet available online as the Township Committee is not scheduled to approve them until the March 27 meeting agenda, according to Township Clerk Eileen Tedesco.
A special meeting of the Planning Board is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 24 in the Municipal Building, 3515 Bargaintown Road. The notice was published in the legal section of the Press of Atlantic City on Sunday, March 24.
If the Planning Board recommends the ordinance for approval, it will face a public hearing and final vote Wednesday, March 27.
Atlantic County Veterans Service Officer Robert Frolow stated project is a benefit to local veterans.
“This is a much needed project in our geographic area,” he stated in the press release.
McCullough stated he hoped veterans would come out to support the measure. Meanwhile a group of residents has been working in opposition.
Linda Gerner of Cottonwood Avenue in the Pine Crest development said she is not opposed to having such a project in the township, but does not feel the location inside her neighborhood is the best choice.
“It’s a very quiet neighborhood,” Gerner said. “This will cause a lot extra traffic, which will put the children in danger.”
Gerner said there is a large group of school-aged children who live in the development and gather each day at the bus stop.
“This is unsafe. It’s is not a main road. It’s not geared for this type of project,” she said, noting that she supports veterans as her grandfather was an Air Force veteran.
Gerner said at the least she would like to see the language of the ordinance changed to require that 100 percent of the units be occupied by veterans as opposed to the language that states that the project will be “targeted for disabled veterans and veterans of the armed forces…”
Gerner’s father-in-law Ted Gendron, who lives off of Delaware Avenue a few miles away, said he is also opposed to the ordinance and has been working with her to gather support in opposition.
He is working to form a more long-lasting “government watchdog” group to monitor the actions of the governing bodies of Egg Harbor Township. He said he feels the committee was trying to “push this through” quietly.
“They are going to put a four-story apartment building next to single family homes,” he said. “Why are they putting this in this neighborhood when there are other properties the township owns?”
Gendron said he has suggested using the other parcels that are other less residential streets or approaching developers to utilize the inventory of foreclosed and bank-owned homes as an alternative.
“This is a peaceful development and the project would ruin it,” he said. “We are not opposed to affordable housing or to veterans. There are other locations that are more suited for this.”
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