The developer who wanted to build a go-kart track in Cherry Hill operates a larger one in Edison, seen here. Cherry Hill zoning board member Greg Bruno visited on his own and praised the energy of the place. Garden State Park resident Mike Kopack said he is a regular racer at the Edison track (and others across the country when he travels) and was eager to see Supercharged move into his complex.
Over the more than five years that 70and73.com has been your trusted news source in South Jersey, some of our readers have asked why we do not write opinion articles. With this "70and73 From Our Windshield" we debut our commentary pieces. Always feel free to agree, disagree and sometimes (cordially) tear our point of view to shreds. Nothing is healthier for our democracy than reasoned debate.
My grandson in Virginia was just 9 when he started competitive electric go-kart racing in an indoor league. With intense focus on the track ahead, he fearlessly rocketed past older high school racers as he rose in the rankings.
Forget NASCAR, he told his parents. He aspired to be a Formula 1 (F1) driver.
So it was with great pleasure that I told my daughter it was likely that a top-class indoor electric cart track would open down Route 70 in Cherry Hill from my home. "I know what Nicholas can do when he visits me," I texted her, along with the 70and73.com story about the application.
But, at this point, it is not to be.
The Cherry Hill Zoning Board of Adjustment listened to about three hours of testimony from developer Sangermano Management LLC on Thursday night.
Then the members took a poll, and not a formal vote, and found the board could not pull together a "super majority" of five votes needed for the use variances to build on the property at the entrance to Garden State Park.
Sangermano withdrew its application for the $25 million project before a formal fait accompli defeat.
See our news article on the zoning board meeting.
Over Zoom, you could see despair on the faces of some of the board members. Rarely, if at all, have we seen such internal personal conflict with zoning or planning board members in South Jersey municipalities. And we have sat through many meetings.
The Zoom screen also settled on Cherry Hill lawyer Michael Fekete, who represented Sangermano, with his head bowed and a deeply crestfallen look on his face after the straw poll. The property sits vacant and dilapidated, Fekete told the board after the poll.
Greg Bruno, a deep-thinking Cherry Hill zoning board member highly respected in the community, told fellow members that he would have to vote "no" because of traffic and parking worries.Â
"I'm very saddened that I cannot vote yes," said Bruno, who on his own last Saturday visited the Edison track and came away sold on the experience.
If you have either tried to get to Garden State Park during peak times or attempted to navigate the busy parking lot, you probably share the board's concern. One Garden State Park resident, Kerry Arndt, testified that she often sits through four cycles of the traffic light before she is able to turn onto Route 70.
When Steve Sangermano presented details of his project to the board, he smiled as he enthusiastically described the go-kart experience. The man loves what he does with the Edison track and others in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Where do we go from here?
Sangermano could alter his project plan for Garden State Park to make it more palatable to the zoning board. Or, as he was invited to do at the meeting, he could find a more suitable property in the Township that would not stress traffic as much. Or he could go to a neighboring community. Or he could say "the heck with it" and go someplace other than South Jersey.
The last two choices would be a shame for Cherry Hill.Â
Bricks-and-mortar retailing is disappearing in some plazas and developers and government officials alike are looking for more sustainable, Amazon-proof uses for those disused properties. And there are plenty of development candidates in the Township.
Let's hope Cherry Hill government leaders reach out to Steve Sangermano — and other innovative entrepreneurs like him — to say they would be welcome to call Cherry Hill home, but in the right spot. Â
Neill Borowski lived in the Old Orchard section of Cherry Hill for 21 years and now lives in Kings Grant in Marlton.
