The "concept drawing" presented by city planner Robert Melvin to the Woodbury City Council and the public on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013. (Staff photo by Jason Laday/South Jersey Times)
By
on August 13, 2013 at 11:49 PM
on August 13, 2013 at 11:49 PM
WOODBURY — City council on Tuesday voted 6-0 to
give final approval to a redevelopment plan for the long-vacant, former Woodbury Country Club, with the planning board expected to consider the site
plan next week.
The vote followed
a public hearing, during which city planner Robert Melvin, of the Camden-based
Group Melvin Design, presented an overview of the 34-page development plan, which would see three
health care facilities and 20 residential homes built on the 50-acre plot.
“This plan should
stay in place — it has the 20 residential lots, the three buildings and other
aspects,” said Woodbury Council President Bill Fleming. “This will be the
zoning overlay. Traffic and other concerns will be addressed at the
planning-board level.”
The developer,
William G. Burris is CEO of the Moorestown-based Burris Construction Co. His
previous project was the PowerBack Rehabilitation Center, operated by Genesis
HealthCare in Voorhees.
According to
Melvin, the plan for the former country club includes 20 homes on
20,000-square-foot lots, as well as an assisted living center with up to 100
beds, a long-term convalescent facility with approximately 60 beds and a
physical rehabilitation center with between 100 and 150 beds.
There will also be
15 acres of “public access space,” according to Melvin.
“This is a concept
drawing,” he said. “This plan codifies things like setbacks for parking lots,
lot sizes, buffers and things like that.”
Most resident
concerns about the plan have so far related to drainage, and how the new
facility will affect traffic on Cooper Street and Evergreen Avenue.
Melvin and city
officials said Tuesday that the planning board is set to address those aspects
of the plan in the coming weeks.
“Traffic and storm
water are next,” said Melvin.
