Cherry Hill, Evesham/Marlton, Medford, Medford Lakes, Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Voorhees and elsewhere near the iconic state highways of Routes 70 and 73.
Evesham Township — on the hunt for suitable sites to meet its latest affordable housing obligation — plans to buy the 1.5-acre former Veterans of Foreign Wars Marlton property for construction of affordable veterans housing.
Construction would be limited to the site of the former VFW post and its parking lot because the property has some wetlands and development is restricted by the Pinelands Commission, the report noted.
Township Council on May 7 passed an ordinance on first reading that calls for the Township to purchase the property from the VFW for $200,000. A public hearing before final passage of the ordinance is scheduled at the Council meeting beginning at 7 p.m. on June 11 at the municipal building at 984 Tuckerton Road.
The Township "intends to purchase the property and work with a veterans housing provider to construct two duplex or twin-style affordable dwellings on the site as a 100% affordable project for veterans," according to the affordable housing plan.
Read 70and73.com coverage of the affordable housing plan here.
Although Evesham has a lot of open acreage, the Pinelands Commission prohibits development on most of that land. That has left the Township and its consultants searching for either vacant land or properties to redevelop for a blend of regular and affordable housing.
The draft plan hit a bump in the road last week when the owner of the Crispin Square Shopping Center at Church Road and Church Street told 70and73.com that his property would not be available for residential development, as the plan suggests.
Several possibilities for development sites were listed by the consultant, CME Associates of Camden, in the draft plan, which the Planning Board will consider at its June 5 meeting.
"Crispin Square is not an option," shopping center owner A.J. Magistrelli, of Wharton Hardware and Supply of Pennsauken, told 70and73.com.
