Demolition equipment on May 1 outside one of the two homes on Wynwood Avenue next to Cherry Hill Dodge that would be razed to add to the dealership's parking lot.
A dispute between Cherry Hill Dodge and Cherry Hill Township, the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by the owner of the car dealership, will be considered by the zoning board on Thursday as the judge separately pushes for a settlement.
The controversy, which has pitted the Township and neighbors of the Route 70 car dealer against owner Charles W. Foulke Jr., grows from a Planning Board decision in 2020 to allow Foulke to expand his employee parking to three residential lots and tear down two houses.Â
Foulke won 5-2 board approval as long as the dealer met a list of conditions that included meeting with neighbors, stopping the use of car horns to find vehicles in the lot and forbidding vendors from parking on Fulton Street to make deliveries. The Locustwood neighbors also complained of test drives on residential streets by customers and the dealership's service department employees.
However, since the board decision, persistent complaints from neighbors prompted the Township in April to rescind the Cherry Hill Dodge demolition permits for two homes on Wynwood Avenue that were going to be razed to make room for the new parking lot. Foulke filed suit in U.S. District Court in May.
In a separate action, Foulke in May also applied to appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment over the pulling of his permits. If the board on Thursday approves his request to reinstate the demolition permits it would open the way for the dealership to expand its parking.
The meeting, which can be accessed remotely through Zoom, begins with a caucus at 7 p.m. followed by the regular meeting at 7:30. More details are available at the Township website.
In a summary of their appeal filed with the Township, Foulke and Lenny Reality LLC maintain that "unknown to Foulke, at a Township Council meeting on February 27, 2023, and at a community meeting with Locustwood neighbors on April 17, 2023, there were allegations made that Foulke was not in compliance with the conditions" of the Planning Board approval.
"Notice and opportunity to cure the alleged infractions was not provided to Foulke, nor was any enforcement action initiated by the Township zoning officer alleging any such non-compliance," according to Foulke's appeal in advance of Thursday's board meeting.
U.S. District Court Judge Renee Marie Bumb has instructed the parties to meet and try to resolve the dispute. Each sent letters to the judge in mid-August and a court hearing is scheduled for September 14 to "further address the parties' efforts to resolve their dispute without unnecessary motion practice," according to the judge's order.
"If the hearing does not generate an acceptable resolution, the court will permit plaintiffs (Foulke) to file an amended complaint, and the parties shall proceed accordingly," she wrote.
An Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request by 70and73.com for a copy of the Township's letter to Judge Bumb was denied last Wednesday because, the Township wrote, "these letters are exempt from disclosure since they are...settlement communications."
