Cherry Hill Dodge parking plan approved, but township vows oversight of traffic, code violations.

Bad behavior by Route 70 car dealerships in Cherry Hill's Locustwood neighborhood will be monitored and enforcement stepped up by the township and Police Department, according to the Planning Board.

The call for closer scrutiny by police and code-enforcement officers grew out of public hearings as the board considered an application by Cherry Hill Dodge to use three residential lots to add to its parking around the dealership — bounded by Route 70, Fulton Street and Wynwood and Chambers avenues. Two homes will be torn down.

Board members voted 5-2 shortly after midnight on Tuesday to permit the expansion. The block now will be filled by Cherry Hill Dodge, except for the Chambers Avenue home and yard of Frank and Mariana Maloney, which will be bounded on three sides by dealership parking. Maloney attended the virtual meeting on Zoom and once again spoke against the application.

The board's approval came with a long list of conditions that must be met by the dealership. Many of the conditions cover the operation of the dealership and its relationship with neighbors rather than the land use application.

Board members said they were shocked by the public's testimony about Cherry Hill Dodge's relationship with the neighborhood and that it took the application to bring the issues to the surface.

Member Anne Madden Tufano said public testimony showed the "long-standing and very bad blood between the community and the dealership." Tufano said it was clear that Cherry Hill Dodge has been "egregious and has not been a good neighbor."

However, Tufano said the many conditions that came with the approval are separate from the land-use plan sought by the dealership. She cited a lack of enforcement in the neighborhood and how the Planning Board has not been able to get the attention of the Police Department in the past but, with this application, has now done so. She voted in favor of the application, she said, in part because of the problems the formal conditions may fix.

Marlyn Kalitan, a member who at the August meeting said neighbors' testimony about Cherry Hill Dodge made her "nauseous," voted against the application. "I don't trust Cherry Hill Dodge to adhere to these conditions," she said at Monday's meeting. Member Sheila Griffith also voted "no," citing the conditions and saying she wasn't sure they'd be met.

The dealership parking — used by employees, vehicles awaiting service, new car inventory and shoppers — will total 550 spaces, more than twice the 245 permitted under zoning rules.

Cherry Hill Dodge must regularly meet with neighbors to air concerns, according to the conditions. The dealership said it would invite other nearby dealers to the meeting. The other dealerships also border the Locustwood neighborhood and, at times, it wasn't clear whether some evidence presented by neighbors pointed to Cherry Hill Dodge or to other dealers.

The long list of conditions, ranging from lot lighting (it must be in compliance with the town code) to new car or other deliveries to the dealership (they must be made on the property and not from streets), was included in the approval.

Residents testified before the board in August and September about speeding and test driving by dealership employees on residential streets, unloading car carriers and other trucks on public streets, constant noise as employees used car panic alarms to find vehicles on the lot, light pollution from the Dodge lot and what was characterized as general disrespect by Dodge dealership workers to neighbors.

"The public needs to know that essentially they've been heard and we are going to the best of our ability... make sure that this is enforced," board member Michele Golkow told the board during a pre-meeting caucus. Golkow, who voted in favor, is a Township Council member and liaison to the Planning Board.

At the August hearings, Golkow said she was "appalled" after hearing about behavior by Cherry Hill Dodge from neighbors' testimony.

Kevin D. Sheehan, of the Parker McCay law firm and representing Cherry Hill Dodge and owners Charles W. Foulke Jr. and his son Charles "Charlie" Foulke III, acknowledged at the September hearing that the issues raised by neighbors "are serious, they're valid concerns and they need to be addressed."

Many dealership infractions in the neighborhood weren't being addressed, board solicitor James W. Burns said during Monday's night's caucus. "That's something that wasn't happening before," Burns said.

With emphasis on greater township oversight in Locustwood, any lack of response by police and township employees will be a "big no-no," Burns added.

Board members Monday night deeply discussed the practice of employees using car panic alarms to find vehicles in the crowded lot. One Locustwood neighbor testified in August about the noise and provided an audio recording of the alarms going off at what she testified was Cherry Hill Dodge.

Charlie Foulke said he has told employees they may no longer use car horns to find vehicles. Board members said a condition should be a systematic method of finding vehicles in the lot without the noise. Board members and Cherry Hill Dodge representatives discussed a color-coded parking lot that would make vehicles easier to find.

The expanded employee parking on the Cherry Hill Dodge lot will help prevent employee parking on residential streets, the dealership's representatives said in testimony. Several neighbors have complained in testimony about employee vehicles crowding their streets.

Natalie Shafiroff, township community development supervisor, told board members at the caucus that any conditions of approval with the latest application must be able to be enforced five or 10 years into the future. Cosmas P. Diamantis, the township community development director, noted that a Police Department lieutenant has been assigned to monitor Locustwood complaints and, since the September meeting, calls had been received from neighbors. 

Cherry Hill Dodge also redrew its site plan since the September meeting and presented it to the board Monday night.

Andrew Hogg, an engineer with Land Dimensions Engineering in Glassboro representing the dealership, told board members that nine parking spaces were cut from the plan and landscape buffers were widened to 25 feet to comply with zoning requirements. He said an emergency access entrance on Wynwood Avenue — opposed by some neighbors — was eliminated when the town fire marshal said it was not required.

» MORE: Neighbors, car dealerships struggle over land use.

» MORE: Cherry Hill Dodge promises new policies for neighborhood relations.

» MORE: 'We cannot live here' next to dealer's lot.