One of the houses to be demolished.
In the latest proposed expansion of an auto dealership in Cherry Hill, the owner of Audi Cherry Hill has asked the Township zoning board for permission to demolish two vacant houses in a residential zone on Park Boulevard and build a parking lot with 133 spaces for its inventory.
M.B.J. Associates LLC is scheduled to appear before the Zoning Board of Adjustment on October 19 to testify why a use variance should be granted for the parking lot.
M.B.J. bought the 806 Park Boulevard property in December 2019 for $170,000 from mortgage holder Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and acquired the neighboring 802 Park Boulevard property in a sheriff's sale for $175,000 in May 2020, according to Camden County property records. Each house was built around 1954, according to the Township.
The properties that are to become a parking lot in the yellow box.
The two properties, totaling nearly 1½ acres, are bordered by Park Boulevard to the south, South Delaware Avenue to the west, South Cornell Avenue to the east and an unnamed street to the north. They are across Park Boulevard from Camden County park land and the Cooper River.
Because the parking lot is not a permitted use in the R2 residential zone, the car dealer conglomerate — which stated that it also may park its Porsches, Volkswagens and Mercedes on the site — needs a use variance.
"The use will promote the general welfare because the site is particularly suitable for the adjacent car dealerships' inventory parking lot," M.B.J. Associates wrote in its application to the Township as a justification for the variance.
"There are very few residential uses remaining along this section of Park Boulevard," M.B.J. Associates stated. "Granting the variance relief will not change the nature and character of this neighborhood nor result in any material adverse impact on any neighbors."
In its review letter, the Township Department of Community Development noted that the R2 zone is "intended for single-family detached dwellings on lots of moderate size that stabilize and protect the surrounding neighborhood."
Stacey Arcari, of Environmental Resolutions Inc. of Mount Laurel and the zoning board engineer, stated in her review letter that "during a site visit, it was noted that there appear to be vehicles associated with the dealership parking on the unnamed street, South Cornell Avenue and Park Boulevard. The applicant should address the need for the street parking and if the new lot will eliminate the need for street parking."
A view of Camden County park land across the street from the homes.
In July, 2020, M.B.J. received zoning board approval to expand its Land Rover-Jaguar dealership on Haddonfield Road, moving it from what was said to be temporary headquarters on Route 70 across from the Old Orchard neighborhood.
However, while granting the expansion, the zoning board refused to allow M.B.J. to demolish two houses on Wynwood Avenue for a parking lot to accommodate Land Rover-Jaguar.Â
The Haddonfield Road building continues to be used by the Volkswagen service department and the long-vacant houses at Wynwood Avenue and Mercer Street have been boarded up for the last three years, with the boards over windows painted pastel colors.
Two other vacant houses, in the early stages of demolition, stand about 500 feet up Wynwood Avenue from the boarded-up houses.
Cherry Hill Dodge had been given zoning board permission to demolish the buildings and add a parking lot, but work was halted when the Township rescinded the demolition permits because it maintained the conditions of the zoning approvals were not met. The dealer sued and the case is in U.S. District Court in Camden.
The parking lot plan with Park Boulevard at the bottom. A stormwater retention basin is planned to front on Park Boulevard.
