Plans for 49 age-restricted homes off Route 73 in Voorhees near Signal Hill Drive get by first approval.

With a neighborhood association's backing, the planned development of 49 homes for seniors off Route 73 in Voorhees passed the first step in the Township zoning board's approval process last week.

The board voted unanimously to approve a use variance for Tudor Development LLC and D.R. Horton homebuilders to construct the residential properties on 13.75 mostly wooded acres in a restricted commercial zone. Site plan approvals still will need to go before the board in the future.

"I'm very happy to report that when they (Tudor representatives) first contacted me that they really expressed the feeling that they don't want to proceed unless they get some agreement from us and they've been very cooperative," said Edward Ferruggia, of Harwood Drive, representing the neighborhood association of 728 homes in bordering Sturbridge Lakes.

He said the developer first considered a commercial project near the Signal Hill Drive land, but later changed it to residential.

"We definitely view this to be preferable," he told the Zoning Board of Adjustment, comparing the existing residential plan to the former commercial plan for the lots behind Auto Lenders, which faces Route 73 northbound.

Read earlier 70and73.com coverage of this plan.

An entrance and exit to the development of age-restricted, two-bedroom homes, which are estimated to sell for around $600,000, will be on Route 73.

One sticking point at the meeting was how many of the homes should be designated as affordable to assist Voorhees Township with achieving its state-mandated affordable housing target. 

If the usual affordable housing set-aside were used for this project it would no longer be profitable to build, the developer's lawyer, Robert Mintz of Freeman & Mintz of Haddonfield, told the board.

The developer's representatives and the board agreed to more closely review the affordable-housing requirements for the project in the next stage of approvals.