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| (Location of property being re-zoned for Senior Affordable Housing marked in black square) |
At the Town Council Meeting on April 10, 2018, Council passed Resolution 122-2018 by a vote of 3-0.
This resolution confirms the need for a 68 unit Age Restricted (55 and older) affordable housing development. The previous update to the SEN-3 zone allowed for the construction of a 4 story unit with a density of 32 units per acre. As the lot is 2.3 acres, that allows for 68 units on the site.
The lot was purchased on October 19th, 2017 for $200,000 by Evesham Senior Apartments, LLC, who has proposed construction of the units.
It is noted in the resolution that this project is included in the Township's "Third Round Fair Share Compliance Plan." You'll recall there was recently a suit against the Township regarding whether their Affordable Housing requirements were being met. Details are below in the original blog post.
The resolution also authorized the Township Manager to negotiate a PILOT agreement.
Original Blog Post follow, dated December 9, 2017
I'll admit that I didn't pay much attention to the item on the Town Council agenda until someone pointed it out to me. The short version of Ordinance 28-12-2017 is that an empty plot of land is being rezoned to SEN-3, and the definition of what a SEN-3 zone entails is changing. As I looked into the details behind it, I found the long version of the ordinance interesting. It is in a part of town that I (and I would bet most people) don't go to very often. Unless you work out there, the only reason most people end up there is to go to a birthday party at Pump It Up. And invariably on the first trip to Pump It Up, the question 'are you sure you know where you're going?' comes up.
I think when most of us think about zoning, we assume there are 3 different zones: residential, commercial and industrial. In fact, it is much more complicated than that: Evesham Township is divided up into 34 different, sometimes overlapping, zones. The zoning laws are overseen by a Zoning Board which meets once a month. The zoning laws determine what can and can't be built in each zone, how densely built up an area can be, etc.
The plot of land in question is all the way on the top above the above map, in pink, close to the Mount Laurel border. It can be better seen on the close-up map below. I have added a few markers for landmarks, so you can better picture where it is. The arrow points to the triangular plot that is being rezoned. IP stands for 'Industrial Park'.
So what is a SEN-3 zone? SEN-3 was added to the town municipal code back in 2006 under the previous Mayor, to add zoning for independent senior living, assisted living and continuing care facilities. There is an 'Editors Note' added right in the town code. I don't know whether the note was added in 2006 when the law went on the books or afterwards.
The Editor's Note indicates that the SEN-3 was created for the property at 125 E Main Street. That property is now the home of Marlton Gateway Apartments. It must have been rezoned at a later time to allow that the Marlton Gateway Apartments. The property was owned by the Township of Evesham and sold to Marlton Gateway Apartments in 2012, but is not a Senior Citizen Continuing Care residence.
In addition to changing the zoning of the property, the ordinance makes several changes to the definition of a SEN-3 Zone:
- Decreasing the minimum property required from 5 acres to 2 acres (the property in question is 2.3 acres)
- Increasing the maximum height of structures from 35 feet to 55 feet or 4 stories
- Increasing the maximum density of dwelling units (how many residences per acre) from 20 to 32 units. This makes sense given that the building can now be 4 instead of 3 stories.
- Decreasing the required setback and width of property
- Changing the permitted uses to allow only 'Age-restricted (senior) affordable rental apartments'. The previous code did not require the apartments to be 'affordable'.
Zoning this land will help satisfy the town's obligation towards the availability of affordable housing. That obligation is still unknown as COAH requirements are under litigation. The issue is quite complicated and I will not go into it here, except to provide a few links. An article from the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that Evesham, along with 3 other NJ towns, was sued a few months ago regarding the availability of affordable housing. There are some good quotes from our Town Planner and Director of Community Development in the article. Phil Warren has also previously documented the issue in his blog.
Regarding the property itself, the property is empty and wooded. It backs to a small stream, which I would assume is probably more of a drainage ditch, but is home to ducks and geese and somewhat scenic. I can imagine that having a back patio at the new residence, overlooking the stream and waterfowl, with a shuffleboard court nearby.
The entire area is currently zoned 'Industrial Park'. When I hear 'Industrial Park', I think factories and pollution, but that is not what is located there. The buildings appear to be, as noted in the Ordinance before the Town Council, 'office and warehouse buildings, and vacancies are prevalent in the area'. Indeed, if you look at the map on the top of this post, the three building between the property in question and 'Pump It Up' appear to be vacant.
Those three buildings (10,12 and 14 East Stow Road) are managed by Accordia Property Management. Here are the signs for the 3 buildings.
All the signs are empty. According to the Accordia Realty website, building of 12 and 14 Stowe Road are available for rent in their entirety, and while 10 Stow has a good portion of it available, it may not be entirely empty. A large portion of 9 Stow Road is also available, located across the street.
With the empty buildings, it would seem a perfect opportunity to designate the area as being in need of redevelopment, or at least think in larger terms than just this one property. It appears that other parts of the industrial park have vacancies as well.
The new ordinance would require sidewalks along road frontages. It seems odd those are required, as none of the other properties on the road have sidewalks. So the sidewalk would lead nowhere. The road appears wide enough to designate a bike/pedestrian lane, and is not very busy.
The ordinance also notes that the area was picked because it is 'in close proximinity to transportation, recreation, and shopping.' It is a .6 mile walk to Whole Foods (and the rest of the shopping center) and .9 mile to CVS. While there are no sidewalks on Stow, there are sidewalks on Greentree all the way to Whole Foods and a crosswalk to safely navigate Greentree Road. Well, sidewalks almost the whole way.....
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| How did this happen!? |
The ordinance will be discussed at the upcoming Town Council meeting on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at 6:30 pm and will be open for public comment. It should be noted that the ordinance will only change the zoning of the property. There will have to be other ordinances in the future to allow any construction there.