Moorestown Township is moving full steam ahead with its affordable housing plan. On Monday night, council devoted nearly half the agenda to passing a slew of ordinances and resolutions related to its affordable housing plan.
With 160 West Route 38, more commonly known as the “Pennrose Site,” out of the township’s affordable housing agreement, council is moving forward with a 100 percent affordable housing site at 307 Harper Drive, as well as an inclusionary site at the Diocese of Trenton’s Centerton Road property.
First and foremost, however, council rescinded the Pennrose Site’s affordable housing zoning. The township had previously zoned the Route 38 site to allow for 76 affordable housing units, but a group of Moorestown residents successfully put a halt to the site’s development by fighting to have a deed restriction that limits development on the property upheld.
Pennrose agreed to withdraw their interest in the property in exchange for the opportunity to develop the Harper Drive site. On Monday night, Council adopted an ordinance on first reading to appropriate $1.8 million for the purchase of the Harper Drive property.
Council also opened the public hearing on an ordinance zoning the Diocese’s Site next to the Burlington County Agricultural Center (there is no street address assigned to the property) for affordable housing. The zoning allows for 83 town homes – 17 of which would be set aside for affordable housing.
Councilman Michael Locatell said when the Pennrose Site was in dispute, council was forced to revisit their affordable housing settlement with Fair Share Housing. At that time, the Diocese of Trenton became an intervenor in the township’s affordable housing suit requesting their site be included in the township’s plan. The Diocese’s successful intervention meant that the township had to add the site to its overall plan.
A handful of residents expressed concerns about how the Diocese Site would affect traffic on Centerton Road. Resident Jeanne Maskell said at 5 o’clock, traffic backs up from Interstate 295 to Crenshaw Way. She inquired if there was any study done on how the site will affect traffic and if there are plans to widen Centerton Road to accommodate for the added volume.
Locatell said years ago, Toll Brothers agreed to widen Centerton Road as a condition of developing in the area, but they later fought that condition in court. He said as new development comes down the line, council might once again push to have that road widened.
Resident Raymond Perry echoed Maskell’s concerns.
“You’ve got all this new development going out there; it’s just going to ruin the traffic patterns and make life generally miserable with all that construction out there,” Perry said.
Locatell said council is holding off on voting on the ordinance as they’re still discussing some of the “nuances” of how it will read. For that reason, the public will have another opportunity to comment on the ordinance at council’s next meeting on Monday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
