Woodcrest to remain a golf course
Potentially ending a nasty development spat in Cherry Hill that has included two lawsuits, the township's mayor announced a tentative agreement Tuesday that would keep Woodcrest Country Club a golf course.
Potentially ending a nasty development spat in Cherry Hill that has included two lawsuits, the township's mayor announced a tentative agreement Tuesday that would keep Woodcrest Country Club a golf course.
The settlement also would immunize Cherry Hill against more litigation over past affordable-housing goals, under the state's Mount Laurel decision. Cherry Hill and the advocacy group Fair Share Housing Center have been involved in legal disputes for 30 years. Fair Share also signed off on the township's affordable-housing plans.
The Cherry Hill Township Council voted Monday to accept the settlements. Of seven members, one was absent, and one abstained.
Further details of the agreements were not released, pending court approval by the end of summer.
After the 165-acre Woodcrest property - a rare chunk of open space in Cherry Hill - was sold at bankruptcy auction in May 2013, some township residents and officials feared development on the site.
Two lawsuits were filed, one seeking to build sewerage infrastructure to support building development, one seeking court approval to build housing, for which the area is not zoned.
Cherry Hill Land Associates, which won the auction to purchase the land and a plaintiff in one of the suits, had proposed development of hundreds of high-density rental units.
Under the proposed settlements, Cherry Hill will pay no more than $3.99 million for the development rights to the property, the township said in a news release. A permanent deed restriction forbidding development will be placed on the property.
Cherry Hill Land Associates will continue to operate the golf course; the site can be used only for golf (and related functions), other recreation, or as open space.
"This is an important turning point in this long-standing litigation and the township's efforts to preserve Woodcrest Country Club," Cherry Hill Council President David Fleisher said in a statement. "From the beginning, our message was clear: Open space must be preserved."
In the Cherry Hill Land Associates settlement, the municipality agreed to work with the group on sites it owns in the Hampton Road and Park Boulevard redevelopment areas, the township said.
Fair Share Housing Center, along with local NAACP branches, had filed the other lawsuit to force creation of affordable housing. Cherry Hill's tentative agreement in that suit would give the municipality a judgment to say it has fulfilled its past affordable housing obligations.
That settlement comes after a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in March that gave Superior Court judges oversight over municipalities' affordable housing obligations. Municipalities must now show those judges that they are making progress toward their obligation to provide further affordable housing.
"This settlement shows what is possible to municipalities across New Jersey that are preparing to submit new housing plans in accordance with the New Jersey Supreme Court's recent ruling," Kevin D. Walsh, executive director of Fair Share, said in a statement.
