Citing traffic and parking worries, Cherry Hill zoning board rejects go-kart venue at Garden State Park.

The Cherry Hill zoning board on Thursday night rejected a proposed $25-million indoor, multi-level go-kart track, bowling alley, dining area/bar and arcade at the entrance to the Garden State Park shopping complex.

Several members expressed concern about increased traffic and adequate parking. A poll of the board before the use variance vote showed that the project would not muster the needed five-member "super majority" to grant the variance. 

Sangermano Management LLC of Sunny Isles, Florida, had applied to build a two-story, 89,000-square-foot Supercharged Entertainment venue facing Route 70 westbound.

After hearing the opposition, the developer opted to withdraw the proposal rather than having the seven board members take a formal vote. 

"As much as we want to welcome that type of investment...I think the problem that we see here is that it is not the property to do it," said board member Rob Connor, who said he would vote against the use variance.

Another member, Greg Bruno, said Supercharged Entertainment is a "really great enterprise" at its facility in Edison, but that parking and traffic concerns at Garden State Park would have forced him to vote no.

"I'm very saddened that I cannot vote yes," Bruno said. 

Member Jay Jones, said it would be an incredible facility, but he said he gets caught in traffic at Garden State Park. "We're trying to put two feet in one shoe," he said.

The applicant's lawyer, Michael Fekete, a longtime Cherry Hill resident, said Connor, Bruno and Jones were short-sighted. The property sits vacant and dilapidated, Fekete said.

Sangermano's proposal also included subdividing the lot of the entertainment complex and spinning off a small lot that would contain the historic Garden State Park Gatehouse.

Although stores, restaurants and residences now pack the property at Route 70 and Haddonfield Road, it once held a horse racetrack that opened in 1942 and burned down in 1977. A second track opened in 1985 but closed in 2001. The Gatehouse is the last vestige of the original track.

Under the developer's plan, the Gatehouse would have been preserved and turned over to the Township, which would be the owner, said Fekete, of the Cherry Hill office of Montgomery McCraken Walker & Rhoads. The Gatehouse would be about 200 feet from the entertainment venue.

The property now is owned by GS Park Racing, care of the Freehold Raceway in Freehold.

At the caucus before the meeting, board members expressed concerns about the heavy traffic already at the shopping complex. At times, eastbound Route 70 traffic waiting to turn into Garden State Boulevard backs up.

Board Chair Jonathan Rardin acknowledged the concerns, but said "non-development is not really an option" for the property. Something will be built there, he said later at the meeting.

Previous 70and73.com reporting on this proposal here.

Fekete said the electric go-karts would run on a half-mile course on which they can reach speeds of up to 45 miles an hour.

Steve Sangermano, representing what he said was his family business, spoke enthusiastically of the Supercharged Entertainment go-kart businesses that he operates in Edison, New Jersey, and in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

"The largest multi-level go-karting facility in the world," Sangermano said with a smile as he testified. He called a ride on the multi-level track like an "indoor roller coaster."

"Safety is our No. 1 goal," he said, adding that racers are warned that go-karts are not bumper cars.

Two intertwining tracks would each handle a maximum of 20 karts, although the seven-minute races tend to average 17 to 18 karts each.

Sangermano shared a fond memory of when he was a youth, and his father took him and his brother to an outdoor go-kart track.

He said the business, run by him and his wife, books drivers ahead of time to race and would not be busy at the same time as the other businesses in the Garden State complex. He said the business would be able to host corporate events when the whole venue would be taken over.

The developer's traffic engineer, John Rea, said Sangermano was correct that the peak Supercharged hours would be different from the peak hours of retailers in the Garden State Park complex. "On balance, this is a good traffic use for the site," he said.

The proposal calls for 283 parking spaces when 422 would otherwise be required. Parking would include 29 EV spaces that would be available when the venue opens. The EV spaces would be open to customers and non-customers, the developer said.

Sangermano said he expected to purchase a liquor license for the venue, which on the second floor would have a 72-seat dining area and separate 32-seat bar and 96-seat bar dining area, which would be near viewing areas of the track, according to plans. An 18-lane bowling alley would be adjacent to the bar and dining area and next to the second level of the arcade.

Ticketing and race staging areas (for driver briefings and helmet fittings) and the first level of the arcade would be on the first floor. 

Public testimony did not open until 11 p.m. after 3½ hours of discussion and presentations. Three residents testified.

Kerry Arndt, who lives on the Garden State Park complex, said traffic flow worried her. "It is very hard for us to even access route 70 on the weekends," she said, adding that she sometimes has to wait for four light changes before being able to make a turn onto Route 70.

However, Mike Kopack, who also lives in the complex, said he is an avid go-kart racer and regularly goes to the Edison facility. "The Supercharged experience is by far the best indoor one I've ever been to," he said.

Another Garden State Park resident, Richard Hluchan, said the applicant had failed to fully analyze traffic at the Route 70 intersection, where traffic backs up both turning in and turning out from Garden State Boulevard.

He also contended that arcades, bowling and go-kart racing are prohibited uses in the zone and would need use variances. "They're trying to shoehorn something onto this site," Hluchan said.