As one enters Cherry Hill Township from the west on Route 38 and Route 70, they don’t see glittering new businesses or high-tech industrial facilities. They are greeted by a number of industrial buildings and motels, some of which township officials consider “dilapidated and underutilized.”
The township is hoping to make its western gateways a little brighter as it has taken the first steps toward revitalizing these areas.
Town council passed a series of resolutions at last week’s meeting to allow the planning board to conduct investigations to see if four separate areas in the township qualify as an area of redevelopment.
Three of the four properties are currently home to motels. The first area is a block of motels along Route 38 that includes the Hillside Inn, Feather Nest Inn and Days Inn. The second area is the location of Inn of the Dove and the former Baker Lanes building on Cuthbert Boulevard. The third area is the location of America’s Best Value Inn and the former Temple Emanuel synagogue along Route 70. The final area is the former Saunders Publishing complex on Hampton Road.
The four properties are being referred to as gateway study areas. They are located on the west side of the township and are some of the first properties motorists see when entering Cherry Hill from Pennsauken.
“For years now, these areas have been home to low-end motels and old vacant industrial buildings,” Mayor Chuck Cahn said. “It’s time we take the necessary steps to rejuvenate these gateways to Cherry Hill and transform them into more dynamic places to live and work.”
Director of community development Paul Stridick explained the resolutions are just the first step toward potentially developing a long-term redevelopment plan.
“This authorizes the planning board to determine if these study areas are in need of redevelopment,” he said.
If the planning board declares the areas in need of redevelopment, it will also receive the label of a “condemnation redevelopment area.” According to director of communications Bridget Palmer, a change in redevelopment laws in New Jersey this year gives all properties qualifying as an area in need of redevelopment this title. She said the township has no plans to condemn any of the areas.
“It doesn’t mean anything is being condemned,” Palmer said.
Palmer added the township could theoretically choose to condemn those areas, but said it would only happen in a last resort case. She said the planning board’s redevelopment study will spell out the township’s next action in these cases.
This is not the first investigation the planning board has undertaken this year. The township also asked the board to do a preliminary investigation on the Victory Refrigeration property on Woodcrest Road. This investigation is ongoing.
Stridick said the board will undertake the same process with the gateway areas.
“The planning board will do its investigation and report back,” Stridick said.
Palmer said there is no timeline for how long the investigation will take.
“This could take weeks or months,” she said.
