WOOLWICH TWP. — This township of fewer than 4,000 households may see another thousand-plus added over the coming decade if the Kings Meadow project local planning officials just approved lives up to its promises.
Kings Meadow checks off several key, long-range planning boxes: Creation of a regional residential center; adding a sizable age-restricted community; and chipping in to help a legal obligation to make “affordable housing” available as well as market-rate housing.
Township government has worked closely with the principals behind Kings Meadow, especially in the last year. But final approval for the project only came after marathon testimony and questioning before the Joint Land Use Board Aug. 17.
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The board broke its own 11 p.m. hearing cutoff rule to keep taking testimony until early Friday morning, including from residents not happy about potential impacts on traffic, the environment, and school taxes.
However, members voted 8-to-1 to approve the final design with a series of conditions mostly focused on keeping communications open with the developer and indirectly with county and state authorities.
The board also agreed that its approval stays valid for 20 years. That is insurance against the multi-phase development taking longer than expected to complete.
The project calls for a total of 1,065 residential units — varieties of single-family house and townhomes. It will have 368 units available only to senior citizens. There also will be 90 “affordable” units.
NVR Inc., operating as Ryan Homes, will build the community on about 243 acres off Kings Highway and on either side of Asbury Station Road. The company is buying the land from Woolwich Residential LLC. The land previously was part of the Casella family farm operation.
NVR Vice President Stephen Gallo touted the company’s past and current work in Woolwich, including at the Weatherby residential development. The company has done projects here since 2004.
“So, that experience and our long history here has shaped our vision for this project, and it’s part of how we are approaching the project,” Gallo told the board. Later, Gallo said an “optimistic” scenario would see construction start in summer 2024.
Gallo said Kings Meadow really is “two communities within one large community.” The two parts are on opposite sides, roughly east and west, of Asbury Station Road. That road cuts through roughly the center of Kings Meadow before linking with Kings Highway.
Some points about the project design include the following.
Conceptually, project traffic engineer Mark Roth, said Kings Highway and Asbury Station Road will undergo widening to accommodate enlarged and safer shoulders and center turning lanes.
Roth said intersections at Pancoast Road and Kings Highway and at Asbury Station Road and Kings Highway will get traffic signal systems installed once their traffic volumes meet thresholds set by Gloucester County.
“But what we’d like to point out, based on our studies, … a traffic signal will not be warranted at the Pancoast Road and Kings Highway intersection until about 50 percent of the homes are built at this location,” Roth said.
“Likewise, we’re using the same analysis, if you look at the intersection of Kings Highway and Asbury Station, those warrants will not be met until approximately 75 percent of the homes are built at that location,” Roth said.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey 36 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
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